Prosecution Opens Power Plant Probe after Opposition Leader Exposes Spinning Reserve "Theft"

The Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office announced Tuesday that it is opening a probe into the award of a contract for power supply security to Varna Thermo-electric Power Plant (TPP). The announcement came several hours after the co-leader of the opposition Democratic Bulgaria, Hristo Ivanov, published a video of himself near the TPP, in which he exposes its suspicious acquisition by Ahmed Dogan, the founder of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), and the subsequent award  of a lucrative million-leva contract in which this power plant is paid to be on standby.

The Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office will check whether any previous probes have been opened into the allegations in Ivanov's video.

In his video, Ivanov called Varna TPP "the big theft for which all us pay through our electricity bills" and accused the power-holders of complicity.

The notorious power plant was owned by Czech energy group CEZ following a 206 million euro deal but they were forced to sell it in 2018, for 50 million leva, to a small company, owned by the children of Danail Papazov, the transport minister in Plamen Oresharski's  government (2013-2014) . Later the same year, Dogan acquired a 70 per cent interest in the
non-operational plant for 3,600 leva. Ever since then, it has been getting the lion's share of the spinning reserve: over 26 million leva a year, without having to do anything most of the
time. In 2019, the investigative website Bivol quoted CEZ Board member Tomas Pleskac as saying that Varna TPP is not designed for the spinning reserve.

The sale of Varna TPP by CEZ is being probed in the Czech Republic for economic offences and possible tax evasion. In early 2020, the specialized prosecution office in Sofia announced that it is opening a probe as well.

Ivanov said in his video that what licences and permits CEZ had been denied for years, the new owner obtained in ten days. "There was no explanation about the origin of Dogan's money [for the Varna TPP deal]. There was no explanation for the price at which he acquired his share. The Anti-Corruption Fund alerted the National Revenue Agency about this and a probe followed, but, of course, nothing wrong was found," he argued.

Making a reference to Dogan's degree in philosophy,Ivanov called the power plant "Dogan's philosopher's stone".  "It is something that enables you to make gold out of a pile of metal.
Dr Dogan achieved that, with our money, of course," he said adding that it was largely possible because all competent institutions are turning a blind eye.

Referring to the government's declared plan to downsize the spinning reserve, Ivanov said that "the government has decided that it has to cover up this scam".

Ivanov said that his video on Varna TPP is a sequel to the episode on Rossenets, a small public beach adjacent to a palatial property used by Ahmed Dogan as his summer residence,
which Ivanov and two fellow party members tried to reach by boat earlier in July but were pushed back by national security service bodyguards. Ivanov published a video of his clash with the bodyguards and it went viral, turning into one of the events that prompted the ongoing protests in Sofia and other parts of the country against corruption, the government and the Prosecutor General.

"At Rossenets, we shed light on the dirty secret of Bulgarian politics: that Bulgaria is run by an undeclared coalition of GERB, MRF and the [United] Patriots, that Bulgaria and all its institutions, finances and energy are put in deep corruption dependence on Dogan and his apprentice [MP-turn-businessman Delyan] Peevski,"  Ivanov said.

In a separate development, the head of the energy regulator, Ivan Ivanov, told reporters that if the spinning reserve is really downsized, the network taxes and end price of electricity will have to be revised.

The cost for the spinning reserve is included in users' electricity bills.

Ivanov expressed support for the idea of reducing the spinning reserve.

Source: BTA