The Military Prosecutor’s Office put Nikolay Nenchev on trial – 2024-09-09 03:03:46

/ world today news/ The Military District Prosecutor’s Office – Sofia submitted to the Sofia Military Court an indictment against the retired Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev and his employee Venislav Tsanov for the complicity of a serious official crime under Art. 282, para. 3 NC.

The charge is for a crime committed by persons holding a responsible official position and led to a loss of more than a quarter of a million BGN, the prosecutor’s office announced.

Minister Nikolay Nenchev /resigned/ is accused that, as an acting minister, during the period from December 16, 2014 to January 26, 2015, he deliberately induced his subordinate director of the Defense Investments Directorate, Venislav Tsanov, not to fulfill his legal obligations under the Law for public procurement and to thwart the signing of a contract with a participant who won such a contract for the production of military clothing. This unlawful interruption of the legal procedure was done with the aim of winning the public procurement by the second ranked – “Intendant Service” EAD, because this was promised by the minister himself to the management and workers of this company.

Venislav Tsanov is accused that, as the director of the Directorate “Investments in Defense” – Ministry of Defense and a public procurement contractor, he did not fulfill his official duties under the Public Procurement Act, did not announce the ranking and who won the contract in a timely manner and did not conclude a contract with this participant. This was done by him both in order to secure a contract for the second runner-up in the competition, and in order for him to retain his position as a director, after a proposal was made by the minister to terminate the employment relationship under the Civil Servant Act.

The goal of the two accomplices was achieved: Quartermaster Service EAD concluded a Framework Agreement for the supply of military clothing and two subsequent contracts, under which the Ministry of Defense paid a price higher than the initial one by nearly 260 thousand BGN.

The case is particularly serious because of the tenacity shown in the commission of the act by a minister and a high-ranking civil servant and the occurrence of harmful consequences on a particularly large scale for the Ministry of Defence.