/ world today news/ The Sofia City Court (SGC) will hear the case against the former Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev, accused of a crime in the line of duty.
The case began at the end of February. 41 volumes of evidence have been gathered on it, and a total of 23 witnesses are expected to be questioned before the court in the entire trial.
BGNES recalls that, according to the prosecutor’s office, for the period from May 5, 2015 to September 9, 2015, as Minister of Defense, Nikolay Nenchev did not fulfill his official duties and did not ensure the aviation safety and airworthiness of aircraft from the fighter aviation of the Air Force of our country. The investigation established that on April 26, 2015, two contracts were signed between the Ministry of Defense and JSC “RSK MIG” for the extension of the resource of 2 RD-33 engines by 50 hours each and the repair of 2 RD-33 engines and one box for aircraft unit – 2 /KSA -2/ for MiG-29 at a total value of 3,773,000 euros /7,388,666 BGN/.
Instead of these contracts being executed, Nenchev told his deputy, Desislava Yosifova, to keep them in his official treasury and not to take any action on their execution. He continued to give the same instructions over the next few months to his subordinates in the ministry.
In addition, according to the prosecutor’s office, from November 7, 2014 to March 29, 2016, he, in violation of military law, did not approve an investment expenditure project for the repair of units and the supply of spare parts for MiG-29 aircraft and did not ensure aviation safety and airworthiness of Air Force fighter aircraft.
The crime, according to the prosecutor’s office, has had significant harmful consequences for the Bulgarian Army – the number of pilots has dropped to 33 hours per year, against the NATO standard of 180 flying hours per year, or at least a minimum of 80 flying hours per year.
This has led to the danger of serious flight accidents due to lack of training. Nenchev’s actions have led to a reduction in the number of trained flight crews and overloading of pilots on Air Policing combat duty and the impossibility of ensuring the training of young MiG-29 pilots. Because of this, it was also impossible to maintain the necessary number of trained airmen.
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