© Julia Lazarova
– Rumen Ovcharov
Five years after Bulgaria paid in full for the equipment ordered from Russia for the Belene NPP, more than half of it has not been delivered, and the delivered is “rolling like scrap metal”, the Minister of Energy and Economy said in an interview with BTV. in two governments with the participation of BSP and longtime MP from the party Rumen Ovcharov.
Days ago the court returned to the prosecution the indictment against Ovcharov and his ally and former minister Petar Dimitrov for homelessness in the implementation of the Belene NPP project. In 2016, Ovcharov, Dimitrov and their successor Delyan Dobrev from GERB were brought as defendants. Subsequently, Dobrev, during whose mandate the decision was made not to build a second nuclear power plant and the money for the ordered equipment was paid, was excluded from the accusation, the materials against him were separated in another proceeding, about which nothing is known. A judge from the Specialized Criminal Court has ruled that the charges do not specify Ovcharov’s specific guilt, a newspaper reported earlier this month. “Now.” According to the publication, the court asks why the third accused minister (without his name) is not among those whose accusation is supported.
On this occasion, Ovcharov said that Delyan Dobrev and the then Prime Minister Boyko Borissov were directly responsible for 300 million euros, which “do not exist”. He reminded that the cabinet “Borisov 1” in 2012 decided to terminate the project for construction of Belene NPP. At that time, according to Ovcharov, Russia had claimed unpaid 27m euros. The cabinet instructed the then Minister of Economy and Energy Dobrev to organize negotiations with Russia on the termination. However, they were not held and months later Russia filed a lawsuit in international arbitration for 1 billion euros. In the end, after 4 years of lawsuits, Bulgaria is obliged to pay 620 million euros – partly for equipment already produced and partly – for ordered, which is in the process of production. The decision of the arbitration is not appealed for unknown reasons and is paid immediately, Ovcharov noted.
According to him, Bulgaria has received the equipment produced at that time, but to this day the part that was ordered has not been delivered. Thus, the balance is, according to his calculations, delivered equipment for 214 million euros and prepaid 340 million euros for undelivered products.
“They are gone. I do not want to say that they have separated them from the Russians,” Ovcharov joked. He added that the term for production of a turbine is 36 months, and 5 years have already passed.
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