Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office has accused former Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov and some of his deputies of buying Russian gas at a price up to 30 percent more than its value, thus causing millions of dollars in losses for the national gas company, Bulgargaz.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Nikolov is alleged to have generated losses of 88 million Bulgarian leva — about 45 million euros — to the state gas supplier in the period immediately following the suspension of supplies from Russia at the end of April 2022.
According to Prosecutor’s Office spokeswoman Biskera Stoyanova, the case is particularly serious, as the activity of Bulgargaz as a public supplier and the provision of reliability and security of supplies were threatened, reports ‘Dnevnik’.
Following an investigation by the National Security Agency, the Bulgarian authorities accuse Nikolov of having authorized the purchase of Russian gas through intermediaries and at a 30 percent higher price following the suspension of Gazprom supplies.
Nikolov has gone this Wednesday to testify before the National Investigation Service, under the Prosecutor’s Office, where he has defended his innocence and honesty throughout all the years he has served as minister.
Likewise, the former Energy Minister emphasized that Bulgaria «did not comply with the extortions of Gazprom and Russia», who saw how the Western powers broke their contracts for gas supplies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
