{"id":16621,"date":"2013-11-06T06:32:07","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T06:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.bivol.bg\/mvr-catchers-lomini-english.html"},"modified":"2014-09-09T16:03:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T16:03:17","slug":"mvr-catchers-lomini-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/mvr-catchers-lomini-english.html","title":{"rendered":"Company of Former Employee of Ministry of Interior Technical Directorate SDOTO Delivered Cheap “Catchers” instead of the Ordered Ones?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Capture_2013-11-06_a_07.43.10\"<\/p>\n

In the specifications for the so-called catchers of the Ministry of Finance it is explicitly written that they need to intercept phones, functioning only in UMTS mode. Such systems, however, are not available on the market.<\/em><\/p>\n

Along with “Tsvetanov Gate,” the “catchers,” called in folklore “Tsetso Mobiles,” also became famous. These are vehicles fitted with equipment for tactical interception of cell phone conversations, bought with money from Schengen in 2010 (the exact name of the public tedner is: Supply of Specialized Equipment for Electronic Monitoring, Eavesdropping and Surveillance – Project under GIP 2008 of the Instrument Schengen, Objective 2, Action 2, Activity 3). The value of the tender is 1.44 million levs, from which 1.37 million levs have been actually paid. The real cost of the equipment, however, is much lower; moreover, it does not comply with the requirement of the tender to supply documentation in Bulgarian, an investigation of Bivol showed.<\/p>\n

Chief Prosecutor Tsatsarov said in an interview on bTV, in the political talk show “Face to Face” that the catchers tapped illegally 875 phone numbers. After the wiretap scandal broke, the prosecution seized the catchers and requested assistance from British justice for the recovery of memory erased by an employee of the Interior Ministry\u2019s Technical Directorate, SDOTO.<\/p>\n

“The court order is still ongoing. Meanwhile, you know, it’s not a much of a big secret that on October 30, an English expert from the manufacturer company was in Bulgaria, who, in some way, might help our expert actions. Whether it happens, we are yet to find out. In reality, however, we are awaiting the response of the British authorities. The court order was once returned and was submitted again with explicit confirmation that the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office has no accusations whatsoever against employees of the manufacturer of the equipment,” said the Chief Prosecutor.<\/p>\n

The manufacturer of the equipment is MMI Research Product UK (www.mmiresearch.co.uk), a subsidiary of Cobham (www.cobham.com). The reason for the long wait for information and expert advice from the UK is that the supplier “Lomini” Ltd has not provided any service or technical documentation for the equipment, Bivol learned from sources close to the investigation.<\/p>\n

The Ministry of Interior Ordered Nonexistent Catcher<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As evidenced by the tender, published in Capital daily, the contract is for a system capable of tracking phones operating exclusively in the 3G network and there were no exceptions for this. “The localization of cell phones, running in 3G mode, should be carried out without changing their mode of operation,” is explicitly written in section 6 of the tender (see attached file).<\/p>\n

\"Capture_2013-11-06_a_07.41.45\"<\/p>\n

Such a system, however, was not available on the market in 2009, and is not currently available as commercial product, Bivol\u2019s investigation established. “Many services around the world would be happy to buy a system that is able to efficiently locate and eavesdrop on phones set to work exclusively in 3G mode,” believes the site administrator of buggedplanet.info, which is one of the most authoritative open sources on issues of electronic security.<\/p>\n

A presentation on Cobham systems for tactical interception can be found in documents leaked to Wikileaks. The most perfect catchers of the company manage to force phones running on 3G (UMTS), to go down to 2.5 G (GSM) mode, but they cost in the range of 2-3 million euros, significantly more than the budget of the Ministry.<\/p>\n

So it turns out that in 2009, the equipment ordered by the Interior Ministry did not yet exist, and money was not enough for the best existing one. Ultimately, the supplier “Lomini”, which won the tender, purchased and delivered a simple 2G system (GSM), which, however, seems times cheaper than the allocated budget of 1.44 million levs. The tender was approved by the Ministry of Finance and by the Ministry of Interior, although the equipment did not meet the set specifications, while service and technical documentation were completely missing. The difference of a few hundred thousand levs in European taxpayers’ money disappeared somewhere.<\/p>\n

From “Lomini”, which is owned by former SDOTO employee, Hristo Stoyanov, refused to answer the request of Bivol, asking what precise equipment was delivered and at what cost, citing confidentiality clauses in the contract with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Finance. Our inquiry to Cobham also remained unanswered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the specifications for the so-called catchers of the Ministry of Finance it is explicitly written that they need to intercept phones, functioning only in UMTS mode. Such systems, however,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","kia_subtitle":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5542,5991],"tags":[5418,5733,5292,5734,5735],"class_list":["post-16621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigations-en","category-b-illegalsnooping-english","tag-snooping","tag-wiretapping-en","tag--en"],"yoast_head":"\nCompany of Former Employee of Ministry of Interior Technical Directorate SDOTO Delivered Cheap "Catchers" instead of the Ordered Ones? - Bivol!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/mvr-catchers-lomini-english.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Company of Former Employee of Ministry of Interior Technical Directorate SDOTO Delivered Cheap "Catchers" instead of the Ordered Ones?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the specifications for the so-called catchers of the Ministry of Finance it is explicitly written that they need to intercept phones, functioning only in UMTS mode. 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The eavesdropping \"Catchers\" cannot record voice; they can only scan the location of cell phones. This was because the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "\u041f\u043e\u0442\u0435\u0440\u044f"","block_context":{"text":"\u041f\u043e\u0442\u0435\u0440\u044f","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/category\/investigations"},"img":{"alt_text":"Capture_2014-02-03_a_10.34.31","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Capture_2014-02-03_a_10.34.31.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Capture_2014-02-03_a_10.34.31.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Capture_2014-02-03_a_10.34.31.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":103336,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/update-hal-billion-social-ministry.html","url_meta":{"origin":16621,"position":1},"title":"UPDATE: OVER 0.5 BLN BGN OF EU FUNDS EMBEZZLED THROUGH SOCIAL MINISTRY","author":"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0439 \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","date":"30 March 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Financial abuse valued at a couple hundred million euro have been exposed at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. The embezzlement is primarily tied to funds from different European Union programs awarded under the law for public procurement. The procedures, however, were conducted in gross violation of the law.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/%D0%A1%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BA-%D1%8D%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B0-2023-03-30-%D0%B2-17.40.52.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":116882,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/tulsi-gabbard-pierre-louvrier.html","url_meta":{"origin":16621,"position":2},"title":"Tulsi Gabbard is questioned in the Senate about Pierre Louvrier’s Russian connections","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"3 February 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Trump-nominated head of the U.S. National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had a difficult moment during her Senate hearing, where she was asked about an affair involving the well-known Belgian businessman Pierre Louvrier. As revealed by The New York Times, last year she traveled to Rome for an event at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29039,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bulgarian-company-global-innovator-in-wiretapping.html","url_meta":{"origin":16621,"position":3},"title":"Bulgarian company – Global Innovator in Wiretapping","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"15 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The lawful telephone interception sector with the so-called IMSI Catchers has been shaken by a newcomer Bulgarian company which has developed a new method to intercept 3G calls,\u00a0Intelligence Online writes. \u201cCircles Bulgaria\u201d specializes in real-time interception of calls and internet traffic in the 3G (UMTS) networks, something which until recently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/circles.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/circles.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/circles.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/circles.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/circles.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/circles.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44077,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bulgaria-still-not-ready-for-schengen-visa-system.html","url_meta":{"origin":16621,"position":4},"title":"Bulgaria Still Not Ready for Schengen Visa System","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"21 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite the optimistic statements by the Bulgarian authorities that the country is technically fully ready to join the Schengen area, the reality is another, according to official answers by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to questions under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA). Bulgaria is still not ready\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mvnr-visa-code-1-232x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mvnr-visa-code-1-232x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mvnr-visa-code-1-232x300.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mvnr-visa-code-1-232x300.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34850,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/why-macron-c%d0%beuld-not-help-bulgarias-schengen-bid.html","url_meta":{"origin":16621,"position":5},"title":"Why Macron C\u043euld Not Help Bulgaria\u2019s Schengen Bid","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"24 August 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent visit of French President Emmanuel Macron was seen as an opportunity for Bulgaria to ask once again for accession to the Schengen area. However, this accession is not possible and the reason is not only the political dead-end with several European countries having so far denied entry to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mfa-visa-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mfa-visa-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mfa-visa-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mfa-visa-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mfa-visa-2.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mfa-visa-2.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}