FORMER COMMUNIST STATE SECURITY OFFICER AND PERSON CLOSE TO FAILED SOCIALIST PM IS APPOINTED AS BURGAS PORT BOSS ONCE AGAIN

Argir Boyadziev, photo Дневник

On August 29, the Board of Directors of “Port of Burgas” JSC chose Argir Boyadziev for the new CEO of the company. “You are not surprised, are you?” the new-old boss of the Port asked journalists who had gathered in anticipation of the predictable appointment.

No surprise, indeed and not only because the murky job, with partial reshuffles of the Board, done by the caretaker Transport Ministry, allowed the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) to place at the post one of its most radical party representatives. The outcome of the final battle for the Head of the Burgas Port was predictable due to the fact that the prominent party functionary, a former staff officer of the Communist State Security and a senior police officer, has never unleashed the management of the port in the last ten years, except for a short break for a few months in 2012 – 2013, when he was accused of abuses in office. And he has no intention to give it up easily: “I expect everything, but you know that these things cannot affect me. They are not pleasant, but cannot shake me or scare me,” stated the newly elected director in the first hour of his appointment.

Who is Argir Boyadziev?

Argir Leonidov Boyadziev comes from an old Communist family that is highly respected in the ranks of BSP – the heir of the Communist party (BCP). He graduated from the Naval Academy in Varna, but chose to devote his life to the secret services. Before emerging as a port expert, worthy to head the Port of Burgas, he was associated for over 30 years with militia and police structures – former Colonel and former employee of the Communist State Security (DS). For active participation in the so-called revival process (the Communist regime forcing Bulgarian Muslims to change their names with Christian ones – editor’s note), he was awarded with a decree of the State Council of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria with the “Red Flag” order.

In fact, Boyadziev’s participation in the revival process proved to be two-sided. Disclosures, made in later years, identified him as being involved in the bloody terrorist attack at the Bunovo train station. At that time, Boyadziev was a DS agent and was the supervisor of one of the terrorists, Altsek Chakurov AKA The Sailor. Assuming that he was the leading officer of the terrorist, Boyadziev missed the bloodiest attack in Bulgaria’s recent history, which reflects very poorly on his operational and professional qualities.

Always at a senior post

The right-wing government of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) party dismissed Boyadziev from the post of Head of Security of the Regional Police Directorate in Burgas, because he is an “orthodox” Socialist party member and DC officer, who participated in the revival process. The former Minister of the Interior, Ljubomir Natchev, in the Socialist government of Zhan Videnov, restored him. Even then this caused a scandal in the 37th National Assembly (Parliament). After stagnating in private business for a while, the government of Sergei Stanishev, then leader of BSP, remembered its loyal comrade and promoted him as boss of “Port of Burgas” JSC.

The port was managed by Argir Boyadziev between 2006 and 2009, when the Three Party Coalition ruled the country. During these years, the Port lost much of its cargo turnover, the infrastructure and the equipment aged, and investments were not made. On September 9, 2009, he was dismissed by then Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov, after revelations of circumventing the Public Procurement Act. Data was disclosed for repairs worth 2 million levs, awarded to connected companies, which emerged after an internal audit of the company. At the end of the year Boyadzhiev was already indicted. The case dragged for one year. Understandably, under the Socialist-endorsed cabinet “Oresharski”, Boyadziev was exonerated. Moreover, according to the grounds of the “independent” court, it appears that he even made savings by sanding amortized equipment for scrap, for which he was actually indicted.

A month after the acquittal, Argir Boyadziev was again “on board”; this time as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port of Burgas, which allowed him to replace his fellow party member Nikolai Tishev as Executive Director a year later.

The former undercover cop and prominent party functionary has always been valued for his selfless work for all BSP (BCP) structures in Burgas. The Centenarian (as Socialists call their party, citing its 100-years of history – editor’s note) cares for old faithful staff, trained by the State Security and the Interior Ministry. Invariably, it gives them leadership positions, regardless of their professional qualities, but always at the top of key public enterprises, and then expects favors from them. Argir Boyadziev is obviously among the most essential ones – by birth, and by moral and professional qualities, which qualify him to lead one of the most strategic in every aspect Bulgarian enterprise, such as “Port of Burgas” JSC. In the coastal area, where the only naval base of NATO is located, the BSP functionaries firmly hold all key posts. Bivol has written about the Regional Governor of Burgas several times – also an agent of the former State Security and covert partner with the head of the military space program of Russia against NATO.

The caretaker government of senior BSP functionary Georgi Bliznashki not only left Pavel Marinov at the post of Burgas Regional Governor in breach of the law, but also provided lasting “red” (Socialist – editor’s note) structures control on the largest port in Bulgaria.

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Евгения Джорджева

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