The Ministry of the Interior launched a thorough investigation into the way the so-called „golden puddle“ at Kapitan Andreevo checkoint was managed. The news was announced by Caretaker Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev, who visited the checkpoint today. He revealed that he had made a full inspection, but so far no case has been opened in the Ministry of Interior. This is despite all the revelations of violations made by the National Revenue Agency /NRA/:
„I expect the over 10-year operation of this site to end. It is strange to me why, after the NRA found a number of violations here, there is not a single file in the Ministry of the Interior. This will change and the guilty will be identified and punished. The Ministry of the Interior has started an investigation into the overall way in which this object was managed. As well as the information established by the NRA that some of the cash registers were not connected to the NRA.“
Demerdzhiev also announced that the state would take control of the „golden puddle“:
„We will take control of the so-called ‘golden puddle and the millions that are pouring out of it into the pockets of people with nicknames will no longer pour out, but will remain in the Bulgarian state and with the Bulgarian citizens. It is strange why the transitional cabinet failed to cope with this task, given that the foundations were already laid under the previous two governments.“
He explained that so far no authority had collected data on the way the „golden gool“ was managed to be submitted to the prosecution. Demerdzhiev announced that there was a second task that had been set and for which he had visited the checkpoint. The task was to develop the point. A third laboratory was to be set up there to process cargo arriving from Turkey. A new laboratory was also to be set up at Lesovo, both of which were to be managed and controlled by the state.
„A new railway line will be launched along the Edirne-Yambol section and a section from the Maritsa highway to Lesovo will be launched,“, the caretaker interior minister noted as other tasks.
Demerdzhiev also responded to journalists’ questions about the migrant pressure, stressing that in the past few days it had been reduced to 120-130 attempts to cross the border per day, which is very small compared to the 1,600. According to him, this was not due to the cold weather but to the good interaction with the Turkish side. Regarding the fence along the border, the minister was adamant:
„That fence can be scaled in just a minute and whether or not there are holes on it doesn’t help us. We are helped by the machinery behind the fence. We have rebuilt a huge part of that machinery. Thanks mostly to the interaction with the Turkish side, the attempts are now down to under 200. In 10 years of migrant pressure, no one has installed technical protection. There are enough people there. We have not withdrawn people, even though it is now the winter period and people are normally withdrawn.“
