/ world today news/ Specialized unit “Anti-corruption” – SGP initiates pre-trial proceedings against officials – members of the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR) for crimes in the line of duty.
The pre-trial proceedings were initiated on the occasion of a report received on 16.01.2017 to the chief prosecutor. The chief prosecutor has sent the report to the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office – SZ “Anticorruptia”, by competence. The signal was also sent to the Speaker of the National Assembly, to the Prime Minister, to the Minister of Internal Affairs and to the Chairman of the National Security Agency. Until now, the prosecutor’s office is not aware of the actions taken by them, the prosecutor’s office announced.
After the report was received at the SGP, a team of prosecutors checked the allegations in it. The investigation launched today as a result of the inspection is to establish whether the members of the independent regulator fulfilled their control duties in relation to the implementation of key elements of the business programs of the gas distribution companies and whether the actual investments made by these companies correspond to what they stated and approved by KEVR. The fulfillment of these obligations /control of compliance of actually made investments in the gas distribution networks with the business plans approved by KEVR/ has a direct bearing on the price of gas for the end user. The subject of the investigation will also be the merger of commercial companies in “Sofiagaz” (subsequently “Overgas Networks” JSC) carried out in March 2015, and more precisely whether the actions of KEVR in this direction did not lead to the preservation of an unreasonably high selling price of the gas.
Another direction of the investigation is related to a complaint filed on 20.01.2011 by “Overgas Inc” AD to the State Environmental Protection Agency against “Bulgartransgaz” EAD, for not providing access to the gas transmission system and to the “Chiren” gas processing plant. The duties of the regulator include examining complaints and ruling on them within a two-month period. Although the Commission was duly referred, within the legal term, its members did not rule on the submitted complaint and did not make any decision. This led to the initiation of a case for abuse of a dominant position before the European Commission against BEH, Bulgargaz EAD and Bulgartransgaz, which has not yet been concluded. The inaction of officials from the State Environmental Protection Agency, who occupy a responsible official position, can have significant harmful consequences, expressed both in the imposition of financial sanctions and in the disruption of the state’s energy system.
The possible commission of official crimes during the last determination of the prices of gas, heat energy and water /for the city of Sofia/, which led to a significant price jump for the end user, is also assessed. The subject of an investigation in this direction is the existence of actual justification of the prices on the part of the large energy suppliers.
The investigation was assigned to a team of investigators from the Investigation Department of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office. With the assistance of DANS, active actions are being taken to seize documents, including in the KEVR building.
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