Bulgaria's Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, stated Friday there could be a possible "misunderstanding" in the "letter of intent" to build the Formula 1 racetrack near Sofia.

The Minister, however, was firm the cabinet has not done anything that could provoke an international scandal, but added he would not commit to saying if the project would be realized.

He spoke hours after the news broke that the Abu Dhabi company Emirates Associated Business Group (EABG) refuted statements of Bulgarian authorities the group will invest in the project to build a Formula 1 racetrack.

Traikov said the only thing Bulgaria did was to sign a letter of intent with EAGB which included text the latter would support the F1 project and other mutually beneficial projects.

"And there were signatures underneath. Nowhere in the document there is a mention of a Sheik, nor did I need to know that. I have not been led on and never made false statements. What I told in the TV interview was that the project has supporters, people who had worked on it for a long time and they must be acclaimed. Because if it is realized after all, it would mean to them lots of time and little money," Traikov pointed out.

The Bulgarian daily Dnevnik, reported earlier Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, had amended its official press release from August 30, announcing plans to build the track.

The Dnevnik article explained that current Ministry information reads the company is a private consortium, and its representative, Mohammed Abdul Jalil al Blouki, is also the owner of the business. The first release listed EABG as a State-owned company and al Blouki as a Sheik.

Traikov did not give an answer whose mistake was the company's misrepresentation and only reiterated he did not know al Blouki and had no idea if he was a Sheik or not.

"There are several hundreds of Sheiks in Abu Dhabi," the Minister added.

Traikov further explained the official document, signed by the Ministry did not contain any wrong information; it did not specify if the Abu Dhabi company was State-owned or private and the Ministry had the sole commitment of supporting the investor's plans. He informed EABG had other interests in Bulgaria than the F1 track.

Also on Friday, the Bulgarian daily "Sega" (Now) published a letter from EABG rebutting the information they would finance the F1 track and saying that after they have been misrepresented as a State-owned company and their owner as a Sheik, they would not invest in Bulgaria at all and would warn all their partners to not do it either.

The news about the forthcoming construction of the F1 racetrack was first published on August 30 by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, informing Minister, Traicho Traikov, and the Chair (as reported by Novinite.com) of the Abu Dhabi State company Emirates Associated Business Group (EABG), which includes 67 businesses, Mohammed Abdul Jalil al Blouki, signed an economic cooperation memorandum providing for the funding of the construction of a potential Formula 1 track in Bulgaria. The press release further noted the project will be realized through a joint company in which Bulgaria will participate with land while EABG will provide financing and the future track will be managed year-round, according to the F1 schedule.

Just two days ago, in a TV interview, Traikov said he was optimistic about the project's realization.

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