Bulgaria's state lottery, whose average annual turnover total BGN 100 M, is in for a secret sale, a former deputy director has warned.

Neli Dimitrova, until recently deputy financial and economic director of the Bulgarian Sports Totalisator (BST), accused the management of the company of corrupt public orders competitions that benefit certain private companies.

She also alleged that Manol Velev, husband of Bulgaria's youth and sports state agency chairwoman Vessela Lecheva and adviser to Socialist President Georgi Parvanov, interfered in the distribution of BST proceeds. Dimitrova says she was obliged to report to Velev each and every financial decision taken in the company. Velev was shot in the head more than a month ago outside his home in downtown Sofia and is still in coma.

Dimitrova said she has approached Senior Prosecutor Boris Velchev, Interior Minister Rumen Petkov, Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski, the parliament and the police and alerted them of the alleged scam.

State lottery director Ivan Ivanov and Vessela Lecheva vehemently denied the allegations, calling them "preposterous".

Police neither confirmed, nor denied to have received the alert.

Neli Dimitrova was fired on July 12, just a day after the assassination attempt against Manol Velev.

The Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office announced it has launched ten days ago a probe into a contract between the Bulgarian Sports Totalisator (BST) and the country's leading fuel distributor Petrol AD.

The information was confirmed by Senior Prosecutor Boris Velchev, who said a separate probe is underway into claims that the lottery is in for a secret sale.

The contract between BST and Petrol is the first step towards the privatisation of the lottery, Neli Dimitrova claims.

Under the contract Petrol company collects lottery tickets in its network of more than 300 distribution stations across the country and gains 12% of the proceeds.

It is still not clear whether the two probes will be merged.

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