The former mayor of Blagoevgrad Atanas Kambitov / mayor of GERB in the period 2012 – 2019, and subsequently a member of the Republicans for Bulgaria Tsvetan Tsvetanov / participated in a conflict of interest.
The decision was finally taken by the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) and it confirmed what had already been established by the Commission for Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property in November 2020.
It has been established that in his capacity as mayor Kambitov he sold a municipal property of 790 sq. M. To the related company Start 2015 EOOD and thus committed two separate violations of the then current CIPAA (repealed) – Art. 8, assoc. 1st, proposed 4- and violation of Art. 8, assoc. 2nd of the same.
The inspection of Commission for Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property began on September 3, 2019 after signals to the Prosecutor General that in his capacity as mayor of Blagoevgrad Kambitov ordered a tender with secret bidding for private municipal property, and the commission appointed by him ranked in the first place the related company „Start 2015“ EOOD, and Kambitov has approved the protocols for the sale. Separately, on February 6, 2017 he signed the contract for the sale of the property, write the Anti-Corruption Fund / ACF /.
The company in question was established in 2014, with the sole owner and manager of the long-time accountant in other companies of Kambitov – Rumyana Shekerliyska. According to the information provided in the files, the two have been in very close friendly relations since 2003, as confirmed by Kambitov himself, but also by his ex-wife, who claims that Shekerliyska was only a fictitious person „for the purpose of washing of Kambitov’s money“, because after becoming an MP he could not be a manager in his companies.
On September 18, 2017 Shekerliyska sold Start 2015 EOOD to the acting mayor of Blagoevgrad Municipality Atanas Kambitov, and on September 25, 2017 he was entered in the Commercial Register as owner and manager of Start 2015 EOOD .
Only two days later, on September 27, Kambitov distributed a dividend from the company’s profit for 2015-2016 in the amount of BGN 79,800. The explanation Kambitov and the other witnesses gave to the Commission for Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property was that this was done because it was a legal way to get money and income, because his other accounts were seized by banks.
On the same day, September 27, 2017, Kambitov decided to sell Start 2015 EOOD to another of his close partners and friends – Ivaylo Dimitrov Blagov, and on October 20, 2017 R. Shekerliyska was appointed manager again.
Thus, in the period September 25 – October 3, 2017, for 10 days, as sole owner of the capital and manager of „Start 2015“ Ltd. is registered Mayor Atanas Kambitov – in conditions of incompatibility with his public office mayor of Blagoevgrad.
Several years later, on September 17, 2020, a change of the sole owner of Start 2015 EOOD was entered in the Commercial Register, the new one being Start Group 2020 OOD (established in March 2020) – owned by Atanas Kambitov and his daughter Elena.
Thus, finally for the established acts representing conflict of interest, Kambitov will have to pay two fines of BGN 5,000 and a separate amount of BGN 86,760, representing the received property benefit / property /, and an additional amount of BGN 867.18.
The curious thing is that the sanctions come only after Kambitov moved from GERB to the new formation of Tsvetan Tsvetanov – Republicans for Bulgaria.
We remind you that back in June 2017, the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) Foundation submitted a number of signals due to the discrepancies between the official income of Atanas Kambitov and his extravagant lifestyle. The specific occasion was the mayor’s participation in a number of companies, most of them with seizures of accounts, and the glitzy party for the 50th anniversary of Kambitov in a famous hotel in Sofia, which gathered over 150 guests and many famous musicians. Then the ACF found that such an event cost between BGN 20,000 and 50,000, which could hardly be paid with Kambitov’s declared income only from salary, against the background of a number of seizures.
The Commission for Prevention and Establishment of Conflict of Interest terminated the proceedings on our signal on July 25, 2017.
The National Revenue Agency, for its part, informed us on September 1 of the same year that the results of their inspection of Kambitov’s income could be provided to us only with the written consent of the inspected.
The prosecutor’s office is still silent about the fate of our signal and what was established on it.
