Institutions have repeatedly denied access to information to MP Stella Nikolova, who has asked to receive documents, contracts and official answers about a deal with TIM’s Holding Varna for the “Alley First” coastal area in our seaside capital. The case has taken on new dimensions after Nikolova publicly revealed that the Bulgarian Investment Agency (BIA) had confirmed to her that the investment, obligatory under the contract signed in 2009 between the state and Holding Varna, had to be implemented within three years. However, to date, the investment has not been made either in its full amount or within the established deadline, the politician claims. The institutions did not cancel the contract with TIM, but apparently other laws apply to TIM.
It should be recalled that TIM is the informal name of the Varna economic group, which owns dozens of companies with different spheres of activity, including Holding Varna AD, Himimport AD, CCB, as well as a media group, which includes Cherno More, Investor.bg, Bloomberg Bulgaria, Bulgaria On Air and others. The conglomerate is managed by Tihomir Mitev, Ivo Kamenov and Marin Mitev. The name of the group comes from the word „team“ in English, but it is rumored that it also comes from the first letters of the names of the three – Tihomir, Ivo, Marin. Therefore, when it comes to any company of the group or the names of Tihomir, Ivo, Marin are mentioned, it is summarized as TIM.
According to a contract signed on June 15, 2009, and which a journalist of Iskra.bg saw, Holding Varna, associated with TIM, was supposed to invest 73 million leva, but according to the IBA, about 45 million leva were actually invested, mostly in coastal reinforcement and parking. The deal involved 118 acres of coastal land sold for about BGN 11 million, and used their special status as a “Class A investor” as a motive. The document states:
“The type of investment, objectified in the investment plan, and certified as first class by the Bulgarian Investment Agency /BAI/, is for the acquisition of fixed tangible assets for the purpose of building a complex for the provision of a wide range of public services related to treatment, recovery and rehabilitation; qualification of personnel for the needs of tourism; organization of local and international scientific and business presentations, seminars, symposiums and congresses; provision of conditions for the development of hydrology and hydrological research on the Black Sea coast. /seventy-three million and one hundred thousand leva/.”
According to Nikolova, the status of TIM „has long been lost“, and the institutions do not take any action to terminate the contract, although this is possible. She commented in a video shared on social networks:
“Given that all the state institutions, including the Bulgarian Investment Agency, have again refused to give me the contract, but Green Movement has already given it to me and I have it, but they don’t know. Now I wanted them to give me the information about the investment project so that I could find out in what timeframe the investment for Alley One had to be made. And in a very kind reply from the Bulgarian Investment Agency on the last possible day of the deadline, they told me that they would not provide me with anything as documents, but they did tell me that according to the regulations of the Investment Promotion Act, the investment plan includes a timetable for implementation for a period of 3 years.
Let’s see – it has been 3 years many times since 2009, since the sale of these properties by the state to TIM. In fact, TIM has invested 45 million so far, when it should have invested 73 million. And let’s see what it says in this contract that nobody wanted to give me:
“In the event that the Investor fails to fulfill its obligations with respect to the realization of the investment in the amount and within the term specified by the Bulgarian Investment Agency, the Seller shall have the right to terminate this Contract for the Purchase and Sale of Real Estate – Private State Property.”
