MP: Bulgaria's Former Govts Looted Army Property

Politics » DEFENSE | March 26, 2010, Friday // 18:20
Bulgaria: MP: Bulgaria's Former Govts Looted Army Property MP Velchev stands in the middle of the Gabrovo Airport which he thinks has been sold too cheaply by the Stanishev government. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s former cabinets have committed gross abuses by selling large amounts of Defense Ministry property for scrap, alerted a ruling party MP.

Krasimir Velchev, Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Group of Bulgaria’s ruling party GERB, announced Friday in the city of Gabrovo that the previous cabinets have sold for scrap about 400 fighter jets, yachts, and many other pieces of military equipment. They have also made “weird” deals with real estate property of the Defense Ministry.

The property and equipment, which MP Velchev believes has been sold in order to benefit certain people from the former governments of the country, belonged to Vointech Jsc, a state-owned company owned by the Defense Ministry.

Vointech is a descendant of the “Organization for Cooperation of the Defense” of the former communist regime which was in charge of a number of military training grounds, garages, buildings, and yacht bases around Bulgaria used mostly to train young conscripts.

Velchev said the GERB party demanded that the Military Prosecutor’s Office initiate investigations into the violations allegedly committed by the previous governments.

He pointed to the Gabrovo Airport as an example. In his words, the Gabrovo Airport with its 1,5 km runway was sold for BGN 425 000 in 2007 without a proper tender. The Airport was also owned by Vointech.

Velchev revealed that Vointech used to have 30 sea bases, over 200 yachts, 17 airports, 120 airplanes, and over 3 000 cars.

“All this property has been destroyed since the moment the previous government of the three-way coalition approved the Military Training Act,” the GERB MP said.

In his words, Vointech Jsc was liquidated at the beginning of 2009 by a total sale of its assets; a fighter jet was sold for about BGN 2 000.

According to Krasimir Velchev, the deal for the sale of the Bozhurishte Airfield near Sofia is outrageous. The entire plot of air base of 1 100 decares was exchanged for 106 apartments, which

were supposed to house army officers and their families but were later found to be unfit to live in.

Velchev stated that each of the three parties in the former government – the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity of ex-Tsar Saxe-Coburg, and the ethnic Turkish party DPS (“Movement for Rights and Freedoms) picked one of the ministries in order to drain money from it to the benefit its senior activists.

He said the looting of the Vointech company was “prepared” by Minister Nikolay Svinarov (2001-2005) during the NMSP government headed by Saxe-Coburg, and was “completed” by Minister Nikolay Tsonev (2008-2009), also from the NMSP party, during the Stanishev government.

Velchev and other GERB MPs are on a tour around the country in order to inspect what they believe are abuses with assets of the Defense Ministry. On Saturday, their tour will continue in Burgas and Pomorie on the Black Sea.

During his visit to Gabrovo, MP Velchev also hinted that the GERB government might consider restore the military training for youngsters.

He said military training had many benefits for young people and that the reintroduction of military training for a period of three months would not mean a restoration of the draft. Bulgaria switched from a conscripted to a professional army in 2004.

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Tags: Krasimir Velchev, MP, GERB, Defense Ministry, Vointech, military, draft, Gabrovo, NMSP, Nikolay Svinarov, Nikolay Tsonev, Defense Minister

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