Radev dodges judges' swearing-in
President Rumen Radev did not attend today's swearing-in of new constitutional judges Borislav Belazelkov and Dessislava Atanasova. Radev has expressed longstanding grievances over the procedures involved and declared their mandate to be unconstitutional.
Radev has already appealed to the Constitutional Court with a request to annul the election of the two new members and urged the elected judges not to take the oath. A similar appeal was made by the Supreme Bar Council and more than 14 colleges in the country.
Vassilev, Lorer to take legal action against BIRD
Finance Minister Assen Vassilev and MP Daniel Lorer, both of the WCC party, have threatened legal action against investigative media BIRD because their names were mentioned in connection with a real estate scandal on Chatalja Street.
The first part of the investigation, published on January 10, had described a plot in which a company that belonged in the past to the co-chairman of WCC, Assen Vassilev, had its accounts blocked after a claim was made by American citizen Sebastian Bretschneider for 5 million levs. Three months before that it had sold its properties for more than 3 million levs, leaving the American out of pocket.
The buyer was reported to be Stanislava Arnaudova, who has a vignette state involved business. At the same time Arnaudova, in her personal capacity, acquired an apartment from Lorer at the same address. The price Lorer received was at least four times higher than the acquisition price a year earlier. This, according to BIRD, raised suspicions of corruption.
Bulgartransgaz, BOTAŞ pen agreement
State gas operator Bulgartransgaz and the operator of the gas transmission system of Turkey BOTAŞ have signed an operational Interconnection Agreement at the point Strandja/Malkoclar.
"This is the result of long-term joint efforts of the teams of the two operators," said the Bulgarian gas transmission company, adding that the agreement specifies the technical conditions, including the minimum transmission pressure and the quality characteristics of the natural gas, as well as applicable procedures on both sides.
The agreement in question comes a little more than a year after President Radev's office signed a controversial agreement between Bulgargaz and BOTAŞ obliging the Bulgarian company to pay the Turkish company nearly 300 million levs per year even if it does not buy any natural gas.
Radev dodges judges' swearing-in
President Rumen Radev did not attend today's swearing-in of new constitutional judges Borislav Belazelkov and Dessislava Atanasova. Radev has expressed longstanding grievances over the procedures involved and declared their mandate to be unconstitutional.
