Bulgarian Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski (L) and former NRA Director Maria Murgina (R). Photo by BGNES
The independent Members of the Parliament (MPs), Yane Yanev and Dimitar Abadzhiev, announced Monday that they were going to submit to the Parliamentary Anti-corruption Commission a questionnaire for the Bulgarian Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski, requesting answers about the so-called "Murgina" affair at the National Revenue Agency (NRA), the Darik radio reported.
Yanev and Abadzhiev are also going to submit an new signal to the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office against the "Murgina circle" and its high ranking protectors over abuse of power and embezzlement.
They further stated that even before Oresharski was to appear before the Anti-corruption Commission, they expected mass dismissals of employees of the Revenue Agency, involved in the largest money draining scheme in Bulgaria in the last twenty years. According to Yanev and Abadzhiev, about 1,000 employees from all over the country were directly or indirectly involved in the scheme.
In the mean time, Ivan Kostov, leader of the opposition Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) Party demanded that the Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev immediately revealed the name of the Prosecutor, who, reportedly, had warned Murgina about the investigation against her. DSB alleges that the Prosecutor was someone, who is very close to the leadership of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP).
The Director of the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency Maria Murgina resigned on February 12, after the State Agency for National Security (DANS) stripped her of her right to access classified information and among a brewing scandal over the huge organized draining of Value Added Tax (VAT) and political cover-up.
DSB further insisted that the Chief Prosecutor stripped all MPs involved in the scandal of their immunity and demanded the resignation of the Finance Minister.
Atanas Atanasov, MP from DSB explained that signals against Murgina and her circle had been submitted to the Parliamentary Anti-corruption Commission as early as two years ago. The information has been included in reports from Regional Agency Directors from the cities of Silistra, Burgas and Plovdiv. The Directors have been fired over those reports.
According to Atanasov, the proceedings against the former NRA Director began only after the information had reached Brussels. The EU had requested the resignation of the Finance Minister, Plamen Oresharski, but Murgina had become the scape-goat.
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The DSB leader, Ivan Kostov, stated that the latest scandal added yet another argument to the seventh non-confidence vote for the Cabinet, prepared by the Opposition. Kostov defined the NRA affair as a brazen theft of tax money collected from honest Bulgarians for the benefit of individuals close to those in power.
Another opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), also demanded the resignation of the Finance Minister. The Party leader, Martin Dimitrov, stated that in any "normal" European country, such scandal would lead to the resignation of the Prime Minister as well.
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