The Sofia metropolis prosecutor’s workplace mentioned on Wednesday it had performed an investigation right into a 2023 gasoline deal between Turkish state gasoline firm Botas and Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz and searched the house of a former power minister.
Bulgargaz and Botas signed a 13-year deal in 2023, permitting Bulgargaz to make use of Turkey’s LNG terminals for cargo shipments, which might be transported through Botas’s gasoline community to Bulgaria.
Nonetheless, the deal led Bulgargaz into debt, because it ended up paying for unused capability, power minister Zhecho Stankov mentioned in Might. Bulgargaz has up to now paid 600 million lev ($359 million) to Botas.
“At the moment, procedural and investigative actions are being carried out to gather and confirm proof,” the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned. It mentioned a home of 1 particular person was searched.
“The topic of the investigation is the contract between the Bulgarian firm Bulgargaz EAD and the Turkish power firm Botas, the circumstances surrounding its conclusion and whether or not the contract brought about harm to the state.”
Former power minister Rosen Hristov, who negotiated and signed the deal, mentioned his home had been searched and that the investigators had taken his telephone and laptop computer, web site novinite.com reported.
Within the assertion he denied any wrongdoing and mentioned the investigation was politically motivated.
Nobody was out there in Botas to touch upon the investigation.
European Union member Bulgaria, which had been completely depending on Russian gasoline till 2022, has been in search of to diversify its gasoline provides and discover cheaper sources and the cope with Botas was a part of that effort.
($1 = 1.6704 leva)
(Reuters)
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