Bulgaria’s National Assembly Enforces Name Change on Dogan’s DPS Faction - Now It's APS
The parliamentary group associated with Ahmed Dogan has officially adopted the name “Alliance for Rights and Freedoms” (APS)
Former Customs Agency head Vanyo Tanov has accused Yordan Tsonev, MP from Bulgarian liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), of VAT fraud.
In a Thursday interview for private TV station Nova TV, Tanov announced that there were recordings of a conversation in which a minister from the three-way coalition government had ordered a senior official of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) to recover VAT worth BGN 1.6 – 1.8 M to companies owned by Tsonev.
Tanov, as cited by the BGNES news agency, argued that the case had taken place in 2005 or 2006 and that the recordings had been preserved.
He explained that the minister had assured the NRA official that there was nothing to worry about because the companies were not owned by Tsonev but by his proxies.
He rejected accusations of Tsonev that he had covered up evasion of excise duty in the production of bootleg alcohol by late Mihail Mihov, owner of the Ledenika brewery.
Tanov reminded that an inspection at the Ledenika brewery in 2009 had uncovered evasion of excise duty to the tune of over BGN 1 M and the license of the brewery had been terminated.
He underscored that the brewery had been producing illegal alcohol for 4 years prior to the probe and that the violations had taken place prior to his appointment as Customs Agency Director.
The Ledenika brewery was owned by Mihail Mihov, who died in March 2011.
Mihov's name made headlines in January 2011 in connection with the so-called Tapegate scandal.
In early January 2011, the Galeria weekly released three tapes of discrediting conversations between then-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, then-Customs Agency head Vanyo Tanov, then-Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, and then-Deputy Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov.
In one of the conversations Borisov was heard ordering Tanov to immediately pull out customs inspectors out of the "Ledenika" brewery owned by Mihail Mihov because he had promised the businessman not to bother him.
Borisov argued in Parliament that his call about Mihov had been ordered by former President Georgi Parvanov.
The businessman was later found dead in a hotel room in Pravets on March 30, 2011 after suffering a heart attack.
Brussels has unofficially warned Bulgaria’s Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova that the country’s euro adoption process could be suspended, according to BGNES, citing Nova TV.
"Everyone wants positions – in regulatory bodies and ministries," he emphasized.
Bulgaria’s toll system now has the technical capability to track average vehicle speeds, as announced by the National Toll Management following a meeting with Regional Development Minister Violeta Koritarova.
The income required to cover living expenses for a working individual and a three-member family with a child under 14 has remained almost unchanged compared to June, according to an analysis by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CI
The Council of Ministers has adopted a resolution to set the minimum wage at 1,077 leva, reflecting a 15.
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