Today, the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) today asked the caretaker interior minister about the discrepancies between his statement on the private company EUROLAB 2011 Ltd and a court ruling issued a few days earlier. The discrepancies are on the police’s reasons for restricting the access of EUROLAB 2011 Ltd employees and on the actual suspension of the laboratory’s operations at the border.
The ACF recalled that on March 2, Minister Demerdzhiev visited the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint and reported that the Border Police had taken away the access and passes of the employees of the private company EUROLAB 2011 Ltd from 6 state-owned buildings located at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.
According to the minister, the action was carried out in compliance with the order of the regional governor of Haskovo region for the compulsory seizure of 6 state-owned buildings from EUROLAB 2011 Ltd, where the laboratory of the private company was located.
In the same statement, the minister said that these actions were „another step towards the restoration of state control at the border“, since the state had already established Gendarmerie posts in the summer of 2022, the private company had stopped carrying out sampling activities at the border, and the specific premises that housed its laboratory had stopped functioning.
The information in Minister Demerdzhiev’s statement does not correspond to the ruling of the Administrative Court – Sofia-City issued a few days earlier – on 27 February 2023, by which the court suspended the preliminary execution of the order of the regional governor of Haskovo for compulsory seizure.
With regard to the contradictory information in the court’s order and the minister’s statement, the ACF asked him the following three questions:
- On what basis did the Ministry of Interior „take away the access and passes of the persons related to the buildings, subject to the order of the regional governor“, given that a few days earlier the court had suspended the preliminary implementation of this order?
- Does EUROLAB 2011 Ltd currently carry out any sample handling or loading and unloading activities in relation to food safety border controls?
In his speech, the minister stated that „all the samples that are taken are taken by the state, and the specific premises are not functioning“. At the same time, the Administrative Court – Sofia-City suspended the order because of the private company’s allegations that it was conducting business activities at the premises, the suspension of which would „cause it significant and irreparable harm, in a materiality contrary to the public interest.“
„We would like you to confirm whether EUROLAB 2011 Ltd is currently carrying out any sample handling or loading and unloading activities in relation to food safety border controls? From what point in 2022 did it stop carrying out each of the two activities – sample processing and loading and unloading, for what period and from when was its ability to carry them out again restored?“, the Anti-Corruption Fund also asked.
- The ACF also recalled a previous statement by the minister in January 2023, in which he stated that the Ministry of Interior had launched an investigation into the overall manner in which the laboratory was operated, including information found by the National Revenue Agency (NRA) that a number of cash registers at the facility were not fiscally linked to the NRA system.
„We would like to know if the Ministry of Interior has already opened files on the investigation? At what stage is the investigation and what has been established so far?“, the ACF asked.
The actions of the caretaker minister come after several caretaker and regular governments have been trying since 2021 to return the exercise of phytosanitary control at the Bulgarian-Turkish border to the state. From December 2012 until April 2022, the samples for phytosanitary control at the Bulgarian-Turkish border are tested only in the private laboratory of EUROLAB 2011 Ltd, located in a building of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint, on the basis of a lease agreement. The goods themselves, from which the samples are taken, are unloaded and made available to the State inspectors by employees of EUROLAB 2011 Ltd. The lease of the premises was extended on the last working day of 2021.
In the first half of 2022, the regular government of Kiril Petkov made an attempt to remove the private company and return phytosanitary control of the border to the BFSA. EUROLAB 2011 Ltd appealed the actions of the BFSA and in July 2022 the Supreme Administrative Court canceled the preliminary execution of the orders of the BFSA and restored control of the private company until the final conclusion of all cases.
„We believe that returning the control activities at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint to the hands of the state authorities is in the interest of all Bulgarian and European citizens. We insist on the clarification of the questions we ask above, as it will allow the public to form a clear judgment about the development of the case and the actions of the institutions on it,“, Director of the Anti-Corruption Fund Boyko Stankushev said.
