/ world today news/ The prosecutor’s office has started an inspection of the agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and Poland for the repair of the MiG-29 fighters, which are in service with the Bulgarian Air Force, reports Mediapool.
Less than two weeks after the agreement was ratified by the parliament, the state prosecution has requested from the Ministry of Defense documents and information about the contract with Poland and about the possible protection of the Bulgarian airspace – Air Policing, with other NATO member states.
So far, there is no official comment from the prosecutor’s office. According to unofficial information, the inspection began after a letter from the National Tax Service. It is not clear whether DANS received a specific signal from someone, or whether it self-reported.
The grounds for the inspection and the aspects of the MiG deal being inspected are currently unknown. The verification of the state prosecution regarding Air Policing is also unclear.
“We have received a letter for such a check. We are ready to provide all the information requested and have no concerns,” the Ministry of Defense said in response to a Mediapool query.
The agreement to provide logistic support was signed by the Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev. It was supported by the Council of Ministers and ratified by the Parliament.
The government has already approved draft amendments to the Defense Law, which will regulate the possibility of joint protection of the Bulgarian airspace with other NATO countries, but they have not yet passed in the plenary hall.
The agreement with Poland provides for the extension of the operational resource of six MiG-29 engines of the Bulgarian Air Force for more than 6 million euros.
The signing of the agreement came about because of the impasse that the negotiations had reached
between the Ministry of Defense and the Russian corporation RSK MiG, which insists that Poland does not have a license to repair the fighters it produces for third countries, but only for its own planes.
Prime Minister Boyko Borissov supported the agreement with Poland from the very beginning of the negotiations and announced in advance that funds would be provided. After the ratification, however, during a government meeting he gave instructions to “very carefully examine, verify and defend” the arguments of the opposition against the agreement with Poland.
Only a few days after it was passed in the parliament, Borisov launched a new idea – that he had sent Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev to inspect the military plant in Plovdiv to see if the MiG could not be repaired there.
Earlier, this was insisted by the chairman of the parliamentary committee on defense o.z. gen. Miho Mihov (ABV).
Bulgaria has a license to repair the MiG-21, but not the MiG-29.
Hypothetically, the aircraft repair plant “TEREM – Georgi Benkovski”, Plovdiv, purchased by structures close to the owner Tsvetan Vassilev, and subsequently renamed “Avionams”, can also repair MiG-29s, but Russia must provide all the necessary documentation for such activity. After the discord between Tsvetan Vasilev and Delyan Peevski and the subsequent collapse of KTB in 2014, the traces of the ownership of “Avionams” are lost in offshore.
Against this background, the Minister of Defense Nikolay Nenchev proposed the creation of a parliamentary commission to verify all the circumstances surrounding the agreement.
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