Something unprecedented happened in Bulgaria Tuesday – the country’s Health Minister, from the cabinet of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Bozhidar Nanev, became the first acting minister to be officially charged by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office.

Nanev is accused of conducting 2 unfavorable deals for the supply of the antiviral flu medicine “Tamiflu.” The deals were signed on December 16, 2009 between the Health Ministry and the Bulgarian branch of the F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., and are said to have caused damages to the State in the amount of BGN 2.5 M. The above amount is the difference between the price offered by the UK National Health Services through the British Embassy in Sofia and the price of F. Hoffmann-La Roche, the Prosecutor says.

Nanev is also, though unofficially, blamed for spending a huge amount of State money on useless medicine because the contracts were signed only after the official end of the swine flu epidemic in Bulgaria.

Just hours after the announcement of the charges, Nanev informed he is resigning from his post. The Minister denies any wrongdoing, but said the charges, though unfounded, do not allow him to remain a member of the cabinet.

This is how the story unfolded, according to various media publications and a Novinite.com own source, close to the case, who spoke off the record.

In the height of the flu epidemic in Bulgaria, in October and November 2009, and amidst severe shortage of anti-flu medicine, on November 3, 2009 the Health Ministry announced a public tender for the supply of two antiviral medications to treat swine flu – oseltavamir marketed by Roche as Tamiflu and zanavimir known as Relenza. On November 11, 2009 the Health Ministry announced another public tender for an additional supply of oseltamavir.

A transcript of a Council of Ministers meeting from November 4, 2009 shows that on that date the cabinet made the decision, (actually somewhat of a personal decision of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov), to declare a flu epidemic in the country and allocate BGN 12 M for medicine for this and other such emergencies.

About the same time, the Health Ministry approached several Embassies for help over the urgency of the matter. A positive reply was received by the UK on November 5, 2009 with an offer to provide anti-flu medicine for the price paid by the British government and under the condition Bulgaria deals on its own with the logistics such as transport and storage. Nanev approved the offer only to find out later it involved numerous legal entrapments that would delay the delivery indefinitely. The main hurdle became the fact that since the UK National Health Services is not a business, it cannot participate in a public tender. Such deal is considered a contract between 2 States, thus the need to be ratified by the Parliament. The Bulgarian Agency for Public Tenders stated at the time the only way to purchase the medication would be trough a tender.

Under these conditions, the Health Ministry decided to go ahead with the public tender’s sole bidder – Roche Bulgaria over the pressing need to provide the Tamiflu medicine. The contracts were finally signed on December 16, 2009 indeed after the end of the flu epidemic was officially announced.

The Tamiflu deal had been verified by the Public Tenders Agency, which declared the selection of F. Hoffmann-La Roche legal. On their part, Roche Bulgaria issued a statement that the company had fully adhered to the law in the contract for the Tamiflu supply during the public tender. The Deputy UK Ambassador to Sofia confirmed for the Bulgarian Television the information about their offer, explaining the deal fell through over legal problems. Teodora Zaharieva, founder and Chair of the Bulgarian Patients’ Rights Protection Center, further pointed out the Minister is the last person to blame and eyes should be turned to his advisors, who misled him. The Prosecutor, himself, stated there is no evidence Nanev personally benefited from the deal.

If the above is true, it is obvious that it was not Nanev, who caused losses of BGN 2.5 M for the State, but the country’s own bureaucracy and cumbersome legal process. As the Minister himself said, the two contracts for the supply of antiviral flu medicine he signed had been the only possibility to timely provide the needed cure during the swine-flu epidemic.

Regarding the accusations that Nanev spent a huge amount of money on medicine that ended up being useless, it must be noted that in the height of the swine flu panic many EU countries made a similar mistake and overstocked on anti-flu medication and vaccines - France, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK for example. Actually, exactly for this reason, the Brits were able to offer the medicine to Bulgaria at such low price – they got a substantial discount from the supplier over the very large purchase made by the cabinet, according to Novinte’s own source.

Nanev is also unofficially accused of conducting a tender with only one bidder. It is a wide known fact the antiviral swine flu medicines are distributed by just two companies. Oseltamavir or Tamiflu was developed by the US based Gilead Sciences and is currently marketed by Hoffmann–La Roche (Roche). In Japan, it is marketed by Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., which is more than 50% owned by Roche. The second one, zanamivir is s currently marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name Relenza.

Again according to Novinite sources, GlaxoSmithKline did not take part in the tender with the explanation they did not have enough quantities for immediate delivery making Roche the sole possible bidder.

Many certainly remember the mass hysteria in Bulgaria during the swine flue epidemic and the daily reports about deaths and scores of people becoming infected. It seems Nanev faced and faces a real Catch 22 – be sued for negligence for not providing the medicine or be charged with concluding unfavorable deals as the Prosecutor now claims.

Except Nanev, obviously becoming the victim of somebody’s business or political intrigue, what is striking in this case is the newfound zealousness of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, backed by Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev. The same people, who for years kept looking to the other side when scores of former ministers wasted and/or embezzled billions of State money, when OLAF reported incredible abuse of EU funds, when land and forest swaps were going left and right in the country and energy lobbyists were signing unfavorable deals under the table, are now hunting a surgeon for trying to provide medicine in the time of a deadly epidemic. An individual, who before accepting the invitation of Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov to join the cabinet, was never involved in politics and, during his entire career as a physician, has never been entangled, or even suspected of conducting a shady scheme. It is indeed astonishing that the accusations against Nanev came just one day after Lyudmil Stoykov, sponsor of the socialist President, Georgi Parvanov, implicated by OLAF as an individual laundering millions from the EU SAPARD funds, was acquitted of all charges and walked out a free man. Of course, scores of other such examples come to mind, making the double standards and the servitude of the Prosecution in Bulgaria truly repulsive.

According to the Sofia Prosecutor’s Office and its head, Nikolay Kokinov, Nanev could be one of the top white-collar criminals in Bulgaria. The monitoring Prosecutor in the case, Margarita Nemska, offered the deep insight that the Minister has been investigated for 6 months now. (Interesting fact, considering the tenders date from November and the contracts from December... Either the Minister was probed almost from the day he took office or Nemska needs a course of basic arithmetic, as Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, with his peculiar sense of humor, often recommends high-ranking officials do before opening their mouth.) Kokinov insists he has sound evidence. However, what will happen, if months from now, as it has been in a large number of other cases, it becomes clear the evidence does not hold water and Nanev is acquitted? Is Kokinov going to resign? Of course not. Most likely, a small article will be published on page 3 informing Nanev was found not guilty. The only people to see the files with this so-called sound evidence, the magistrates, will be blamed, as usual, for blowing the case. Because Kokinov and others of the sort, dressed in solemn gowns or designer suits, also as usual, have already warmed up the public opinion and the media about the severity of the crime and the great job they have done.

The other issue here is who targeted Nanev? The first speculations were – a pharmaceutical company or the opposition, mainly the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in another attempt to harm GERB. Number one can be quickly discarded given the fact that Roche was indeed the sole possible bidder.

The BSP version, much more sustainable, kept floating around until the GERB leader and Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, revealed the truth – he had been the one ordering the National Agency for State Security (DANS) to carry out the probe and upon learning the results gave the green light for the case to be sent to the Prosecutor’s office and to press charges.

“The only chance for our citizens and Europe to believe us is if we are uncompromising. I do not care from which party people come from as long as justice is served,” Borisov said, obviously forgetting the “innocent until proven guilty” postulate.

So the whole scenario is nothing more than a PR campaign to allow Borisov to reinstate his somewhat tarnished, but favorite image of the Savior coming on the white horse in times when Europe is indeed watching, the cabinet is subject to harsh criticism over the chaos stirred by its anti-crisis measures, and the other unprecedented event – the doomed to failure attempt to impeach the President.

Borisov won applause in July 2009 when he appointed the Head of the Bulgarian Doctor’s Union, Bozhidar Nanev, as Health Minister, demonstrating his will to bid on experts rather than lobbyists. 8 months later, in the aftermath of the doctors’ protests and with new ones looming after Easter, both said to have tremendously aggravated Borisov, Nanev became a scapegoat. The health reform, which stalled over the crisis and the internal GERB bickering, is another touchy and irritating issue for the PM, helping him forget that in 6 months Nanev’s team prepared standards for the treatment of most illnesses; proposed several law amendments to increase the collection of health insurance revenues and reduce the number of uninsured Bulgarians; changed the criteria for concluding contracts between hospitals, doctors and the Health Insurance Fund; established the “Medical Audit” Agency; found serious violations in the health care system, and began preparing the notorious “health card” that was to determine the number and the type of hospitals in the country.

The Minister resigned, certainly under Borisov’s pressure, which the latter declared before the media. Nevertheless, Nanev deserves a standing ovation over this act of courage and dignity - characteristics that can be attributed to very few Bulgarian politicians since 1945. Remember Rumen Ovcharov and Rumen Petkov, whose resignations were asked and they refused to give them to the point of being almost physically kicked and shoved out the door?

This precedent is the good news.

The bad one is that the circus is still in town. Just the color of the costumes is new. The old trick of diverting public attention keeps being pulled out of the sleeve cabinet after cabinet. “Bread and Circuses…” Not much bread, but at least the spectacle is free of charge.

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