Bulgartabac sold 78 per cent of the Stara Zagora factory for BGN 18.2 million (EUR 9.3 million), while 78 per cent of the Plovdiv factory was sold for BGN 30.8 million (EUR 15.7 million). It is alleged that the financial broker for the sale of the Plovdiv plant, Eurofinance, skipped a considerably higher bid and accepted another one shortly before the declared bidding deadline.
As a result, the Plovdiv factory was allegedly sold to a subsidiary of the Vinprom Peshtera (Peshtera Wine-Cellar), for BGN 36.57 per share. Two businessmen, Georgi Gergov and Vetko Arabdzhiev, complained that they had prepared bids for over BGN 40 per share but were unable to submit them because the procedure was ended before the stated deadline. Representatives of Eurofinance stated the terms of the sale allowed the broker to close the bidding at any point.
The Financial Supervision Committee is expected to finish the inspection of the documentation for the deals within two weeks. It has requested all necessary documents from the Bulgarian National Banks and the investment brokers.
On a seperate note, two reports published by the European Commission on 23 July severely criticised Bulgaria and Romania for failing to crack down on corruption and organised crime and for their inappropriate use of EU money. While Romania got away without any sanctions, the commission suspended almost EUR 500 million in pre-accession funding and withdrew the accreditation of two state agencies in Bulgaria. (pi)