Meglena Kuneva and Daniel Valchev turned the Ministry of Education and Culture into a party-family business –

/Поглед.инфо/
Godfathers and relatives are appointed to key positions in the Ministry of Education. Employees of Valchev’s private law firm and personnel from the time of the triple coalition will distribute over three billion BGN by the end of the year. This is what the website “Studio Transmedia” writes in an investigation into the scandalous appointments in the Ministry of Education and Culture.

“The new anti-corruption body will be something like the Bulgarian FBI.” This is how Daniel Valchev is promoting Meglena Kuneva’s infamous Anti-Corruption Law these days. For several months, the leader of the DBG and Minister of Education has been trying to push through the controversial bill, compensating for its serious shortcomings with an active campaign in the media. The problem is that in just one month of her new post, Meglena Kuneva managed to create an extremely favorable environment for corruption in the Ministry of Education. And under the direct leadership of Daniel Valchev, who skilfully used her as a screen. Within a few weeks, he managed to take control of the entire department of which he was a minister during the time of the triple coalition, placing his own people who, on top of that, are related to each other and in an obvious conflict of interest.

Maria Karabelova-Margaritova, who is the wife of Dimitar Margaritov, has been appointed as Meglena Kuneva’s chief of staff. Last year he headed the Commission for Consumer Protection. At the time of the triple coalition, Dimitar Margaritov was the director of the Public Procurement Directorate at the Ministry of Education. It is an open secret that his current appointment was made personally by Daniel Valchev.

Photo of Maria Karabelova – Margaritova from her Facebook profile

Maria Karabelova-Margaritova and Dimitar Margaritov are godfathers of Krasimir Valchev and his wife Lilia Valcheva, who is an employee of Daniel Valchev’s law firm (only the last names here are the result of a random coincidence). Currently, Krasimir Valchev is the chief secretary of the Ministry of Education. He and his wife are reciprocal godfathers of the Margarito family, which speaks of their extremely close relationship.

On Facebook, you can see a collage of the wedding photos of the two couples, taken in two consecutive years when they exchanged their wedding rings. Interestingly, the photos were taken in front of the arch of the Ministry of Education, which is obviously extremely close to the hearts of both couples.

But the family mastery of Bulgarian education does not stop there. Another curious couple is that of Laura Yosifova and Lyubomir Yosifov, who is the current director of the Legal Directorate at the MES. Laura Yosifova, Maria Karabelova-Margaritova and Lilia Valcheva were members of Daniel Valchev’s political cabinet when he was Minister of Education.

In addition, nearly 80% of the key directors and heads of departments in the Ministry of Education were appointed during the time of the triple coalition and openly boycotted the former minister Todor Tanev. This was admitted by Tanev himself – in an interview, he revealed that DBG MPs Dimitar Tanev (again a coincidence of names), former chief secretary of the Ministry of Education during the time of Daniel Valchev, and Boyka Marinska, a DBG MP, had been constantly meeting with the directors and heads of departments in the ministry to arrange public procurement and appointments.

That is why Todor Tanev forced himself to issue an order that there would be no meetings of MPs with ministry officials. However, this did not save his place. Although he was a weak minister with many flaws, he was ousted after an artificially inflated media scandal about the study of Turkish slavery. Although Todor Tanev was a minister from the Citizens’ Council quota in the Reform bloc, Prime Minister Borisov gave the ministry to Meglena Kuneva and Daniel Valchev from the DBG.

Their haste to depose the previous incumbent and take control of the ministry already at the beginning of this year can have many explanations, and among them is the following concrete fact: Only for this year, within the framework of the operational program “Regions in Growth”, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will support the reform in vocational education in the country.

Over BGN 130 million will be provided for this type of school, which will be invested not only in building repairs and improving their energy efficiency, but also in the construction of laboratories for students’ practical activities.

This was stated personally by Minister Liliana Pavlova at the end of January, shortly before the castings at the MES. Which means that the money for repairs, the most appetizing and clean scheme for draining the budget through public procurement, will jump several times this year. If we add BGN 3.1 billion to them, which is the annual education budget, we get a rather impressive sum. Whether it is appropriate for so many public funds to be managed by godfathers, wives and husbands, former and current employees of Daniel Valchev’s law firm and political office, as well as activists of a party with zero electorate, is a rhetorical question. Is Meglena Kuneva thinking about him while writing her anti-corruption law? Or it is already time to write his resignation.

The Chief of Staff of the Minister of Education is having fun. Photo: Facebook

Maria Karabelova – Margaritova and the head of the Investment Agency Stamen Yanev, another key protégé of Daniel Valchev in the state administration. Photo: Facebook

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