15 signals for violations in spending public funds were sent to the Agency for State Financial Inspection / PFIA / worth BGN 294 million, the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) announced. They have been filed from 2017 until today, and during these 5 years the state agency has appointed an inspection of only 8 signals, but has classified the information on four of them. In the remaining 7 cases, PFIA has not yet appointed an inspection, citing „lack of administrative capacity“ as the reason for the delays. Thus, even in cases of violations worth millions of levs, the perpetrators go unpunished.
PFIA is the body under the Minister of Finance that controls the management and spending of public funds. The agency conducts financial inspections, detects fraud and violations, reveals the damage caused and brings the perpetrators to justice.
„From ACF we prepare a signal to PFIA every time we find“ red flags „related to abuses and violations in the conduct and implementation of public procurement and other public expenditures. Since 2017, we have prepared 15 extremely detailed signals, in which we indicate the identified violations or serious indicators for such violations, which PFIA should check. For five years PFIA has checked only 8 signals, but the information on 4 of them is classified. For the remaining 7 years, no inspection has been appointed at all for years „, sums up Sofia Jeleva, legal advisor to the Anti-Corruption Fund.
It took PFIA an average of 2 years to appoint and conduct an inspection at the signal of the ACF. The justification is always the same:
„A financial inspection will be commissioned if there is administrative capacity.“
By law, PFIA considers with the highest priority the signals that come from the Minister of Finance and other ministries. Then there are those sent by the prosecutor’s office. Finally, if „administrative capacity“ remains, signals come from other individuals and legal entities, including non-governmental organizations. Checks on such signals start with a huge delay – 2 or 3 years, and even when violations are found, the statute of limitations on them has usually expired. Thus, even in cases of violations worth millions of levs, the perpetrators go unpunished.
Such are, for example, the signals of the ACF for illegal public procurement for the disposal of animal waste worth BGN 90 million, for road construction in the Municipality of Dospat and the Municipality of Pernik, for insurance in the Municipality of Silistra and others.
Another example is the contract that the Municipality of Pazardzhik concludes with the company „Real States“ Ltd. for the construction of the largest solar photovoltaic park in Southeast Europe. For the construction of the company’s park, 2,000 decares of arable municipal land were transferred for BGN 500,000. The large-scale project is not happening, and the municipality releases Real States from its obligations without seeking the contractual penalty in the amount of BGN 1 million, or practically the „donated“ 2000 decares of municipal land. In early 2018, Real States sold part of the municipal plots and generated 10 times the profit compared to the acquisition price.
The Golden Puddle, provided by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency to the private company Pi, is also expected to have administrative capacity. Eph. Si ”EOOD in 2013. According to official data, „Pi. Eph. Si EOOD earns BGN 33 million for 8 years from the collection of state fees and the implementation of border disinfection – without any experience and without legal competence to perform these activities. In the summer of 2021, the NRA revised „Pi. Eph. Si. „, Found numerous violations and imposed precautionary measures for millions. Since then, every day the NRA collects the entire daily turnover in cash with an armored car, and the company continues to operate. In these cases, the lack of capacity is never to the detriment of the state and society.
„While PFIA inspectors work only on signals from ministers and prosecutors, the agency’s“ administrative capacity „will still be lacking. ACF believes that the signals received by PFIA should be given priority not according to its sender, but according to the high public importance and financial value of the violations. In addition, the necessary institutional checks should be carried out on the effectiveness of the work of inspectors, „added Sofia Jeleva.
In several cases, PFIA started an inspection on the signal of the ACF, but refused to announce the results. The agency justifies the refusal by finding data on crimes committed, for which they have informed the prosecutor’s office. Moreover, they incorrectly cite Art. 198, para. 1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure / PPC /, according to which materials of investigation in the pre-trial proceedings may not be disclosed without the permission of the prosecutor.
However, the prosecutor’s office did not initiate an investigation into most of the PFIA’s signals, so there is no reason to seek permission from a prosecutor to disclose them. Sofia Jeleva commented:
„Informing the prosecutor’s office about a possible crime is not an investigation within the meaning of the Criminal Procedure Code. The reference to Art. 198 of the PPC in these cases is illegal and leads to restriction of access to public information, which is guaranteed by law. Increasingly, PFIA and other institutions are misinterpreting the PPC, which severely threatens free access to information of high public importance.“
As of July 2021, the State Financial Inspection Agency has a new director, and some of the reasons for the change of management are related to the fact that most of the signals received from individuals and legal entities have not been financially inspected. Boyko Stankushev, director of the Anti-Corruption Fund, said:
“The Anti-Corruption Fund presented these problems to the new management of PFIA. We expect a quick response, addressing the problems and reorganizing the work of the Agency so that this key state control body can actually perform its main function of protecting public financial interests.”
