By the end of the week we will signal the Prosecutor's Office in connection with the sale of the "Vedra" chalet, owned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. This was announced at a briefing at the Council of Ministers by the acting Minister of Agriculture and Food Ivan Hristanov. He pointed out that irregularities were discovered with the property last week, which, in his words, has been turned into a brothel. "This is a base with 20 rooms and 6 apartments, located at the foot of the "Laleto" ski slope. Instead of being made available for public use, for example for green schools or educational purposes, it was rented out and subsequently sold," added Minister Hristanov. He stressed that the object, which was announced for sale, has reached an advanced stage of the procedure.
„According to information from investigative media, the company behind the deal is connected to a person known by the nickname „Wolf“. We have often asked ourselves why the „Zhelyazkov” cabinet had to take over 5,000 properties and they should be of no longer necessary”, the Minister of Agriculture also said. He raised questions about the management of the funds of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), recalling that over the years, the bank's exposures have been linked to oligarchs and individuals from the criminal contingent.
According to him, in individual cases, significant resources were used, which were subsequently written off in a non-transparent manner, to the detriment of society. „And here is the connection with the BDB. When we say that we want to get our money back from the Bulgarian Agricultural Development Fund and have it work for society, we are actually stating something very simple. We do not want our money to be used to finance purchases at a low price. The chalet itself is valued at 1 million leva, which is a mockery of the state and the Bulgarians, to be given to one person. No less stressful is the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food somehow does not want this chalet. If it is so undesirable, if it is economically unprofitable, as the reports show, why would anyone else want to buy it? What would make it economically profitable for them, if it is not for us? The elimination of the need is not only for this property but also for other properties”, said Hristanov.
He also announced that a property in Koprivshtitsa, also owned by the Ministry of Agriculture, was also sold. “A luxurious property, sold at a low price for 100 thousand euros. Its real value is at least three times greater. We will announce the data at the moment, I do not have the companies in front of me. When we talk about such scandals, we ask ourselves a very basic question. Who does the state work for? Does it work for the oligarchs or does it work for society?”, Minister Hristanov concluded.
In response to a media question, Minister Hristanov said that it is being checked whether meat from a farm in the Silistra village of Chernogor has reached the retail network. He specified that these are animals from a facility with an established outbreak of anthrax, and the disease was detected two days ago. “Currently, the competent authorities are monitoring the movement of the production. Experts from the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency responded promptly after receiving signals, and on the same day samples were taken and sent to a reference laboratory, where the presence of the disease was confirmed“, the minister pointed out.
“After the disease was detected, the facility was immediately closed and all measures were taken according to the current protocols to prevent its spread“, Hristanov also emphasized.