Documents accuse the mayor of Tsarevo Georgi Lapchev of lying. This was revealed to Iskra.bg by public figure Emil Peychev. Our editorial office also has copies of the documents, which you can familiarize yourself with below in this publication.
Emil Peychev has addressed several questions to Mayor Lapchev under the Law on Access to Public Information. The member of the public wanted to know whether the municipality had concluded contracts with lawyers or legal offices for the provision of legal assistance. Iskra.bg has the official answer to Peychev from the local administration, in which it is the same for each of the questions asked, namely:
„No contracts for subscription legal services were concluded with lawyers and law firms by the mayor or the municipality during the period 2017 until the submission of this application.“
Peychev explained to Iskra.bg how he decided to ask Mayor Georgi Lapchev questions about the Law on Access to Public Information. Some time ago, the member of the public saw on the website of the municipality questions also about the Law on Access to Public Information and the same answers, so he decided to ask a second time and asked them on his own behalf. The answer he received was the same. Peychev himself explained that he did not know what actions were taken by the first citizen who asked these questions.
But he himself has no way to hold Mayor Georgi Lapchev accountable, because he is not directly affected by his answers. Otherwise, Lapchev is responsible, because by giving false answers he violated the law, Peychev is categorical.
In order to prove that Lapchev is not telling the truth, the public official went to court and took documents that clearly show that the municipality concluded contracts for legal services with lawyers, for which it paid various amounts, reaching even 12,000 BGN. Peychev emphasized that the amount of the fee is not important in this case, but the fact that this information is hidden from the citizens and even when they themselves ask, they are not told the truth. And the information itself is publicly available.
As for the case with the 12,000 paid, this was done by the Municipality of Tsarevo, although it won the case. Now the relevant actions are to be taken for the respondent to refund the amount.
„We are talking about the moral side here. In reality, there is no morality. A mayor cannot put his signature under such documents, and that with the clear awareness that this is not true, because he signs all these powers of attorney and contracts to external offices, and there is nothing wrong with that. This is normal. There is no way that the lawyer of the Municipality is competent in every single area. But it is not right, provided you know that you are using external lawyers, to say – we do not use“, commented Emil Peychev.
He emphasized that we cannot trust a mayor, provided that he allows himself not to tell the truth about such elementary things.
