The management of the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA) and some other officials received a total of BGN 140 000 in additional payments for 2011.

Another BGN 45 000 were paid to external experts, according to a data provided upon a request of Martin Dimitrov, leader of the right-wing Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), under the Access to Public Information Act.

The document shows that the additional revenues came on two projects, Capacity Development of BSEMPEA for the Efficient Management and Execution of Priority Axes 1 and 2 and Encouraging the Internationalization of Bulgarian Enterprises.

The data provided under the Access to Public Information Act states the jobs of the officials and does not specify their names.

According to the document, the Executive Director of the BSEMPEA, Mariyana Velkova, pocketed an additional BGN 17 000 to her annual salary of BGN 26 000, while her deputy, Nina Todorova took an extra BGN 14 000 to an annual salary of BGN 18 700.

In a Friday media statement, Velkova argued that the extra sums were payments on part-time employment contracts, not bonuses.

The press release emphasized that there was no need to return the money.

The UDF leader insisted, however, that the data provided under the Access to Public Information Act did not make it clear how the payments had been calculated.