{"id":37853,"date":"2018-01-20T13:03:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T13:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg?p=37853"},"modified":"2018-01-21T12:57:45","modified_gmt":"2018-01-21T12:57:45","slug":"who-is-behind-bulgarias-broken-excise-duty-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/who-is-behind-bulgarias-broken-excise-duty-system.html","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Behind Bulgaria\u2019s Broken Excise Duty System?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bulgarian Centralized Excise Duty Information System (BACIS)<\/strong> for exchange of information between the Customs and the National Revenue Agency (NRA) is at the center of a political scandal and one of the reasons for the no-confidence vote against the government for failure to fight corruption. A classified report by the National Security Agency (DANS) claims that the system is unreliable and allows manipulation and deletion of data.<\/p>\n

Up to now, the public was told that BACIS has been created by a Bulgarian company, which is not exactly the case. A Bulgarian-Hungarian consortium between IBS Bulgaria and Idom 2000 Konzulens Zrt. has been given the BACIS contract<\/a> in 2012 for BGN 4.4 million, according to the Public Procurement Agency\u2019s (PPA) data.<\/p>\n

The same consortium has also won another public procurement contract from the Customs Agency for “Standardizing IT Processes as a Service at the Customs Agency under the Best Global Practices “. It is from 2009 and is funded under the EU Operational Program Administrative Capacity (OPAC).<\/p>\n

From what we have learned so far, it becomes clear that the system had given access to all users from 340 different points with the same password. This is a very serious breach of information security that is not at all aligned with standards or good global practices.<\/p>\n

What’s more, the password has been extremely easy, something like 1245678 or abv1234, Bivol learned from insider sources.<\/p>\n

DANS\u2019 reports on the broken BACIS system have been sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, but it has not seen any evidence of a crime and has refused to initiate pre-trial proceedings.<\/p>\n

Who Is Who in BACIS\u2019 case?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIBS \u2013 Bulgaria\u201d, whose manager and majority owner is named Goran Blagoev, has won over the years alone and in consortia public procurement bids for more than BGN 50 million, a check<\/a> by Bivol in the PPA data shows.<\/p>\n

The Customs Agency, the NRA, the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Fund Agriculture (SFA), the State Railways BDZ, the Cadaster, Bulgarian Posts, several municipalities and the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) are among the clients of \u201cIBS\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of the big orders<\/a>, for BGN 4 million, is from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the upgrade of the National Visa Information System (NVIS) and the visa activity in the consular services of the Republic of Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

As Bivol wrote earlier, despite the millions poured into it, the Bulgarian NVIS system cannot be integrated within the Schengen visa system, which is one of the main technical obstacles<\/a> preventing Bulgaria from joining the Schengen area.<\/p>\n

Idom 2000 Konzulens Zrt. is a Hungarian software giant, created in 2000 by Adam G\u00f6dri, Peter Kertesch and Zoltan Kovacs.<\/p>\n

The company develops key information systems for public services in Hungary, the Schengen Information System, the National Healthcare System and many others. It is so strategic that the Hungarian government has decided to nationalize it for national security reasons.<\/p>\n

However, the nationalization has been carried out in a hurry and raises doubts about corruption and conflict of interest, Bivol\u2019s partner at the OCCRP, Atlastzo.hu, writes.<\/p>\n

Nationalized e-services company linked to the procurer office\u2019s leader<\/a><\/p>\n

Ivan Dimitrov is the Director of the Information Systems and Analytical Activities Directorate at the Customs Agency. He is a former Director of the Communications and Information Systems Directorate at the Interior Ministry. The scandalous public tender with Siemens for biometric ID documents took place during his term in office. As Bivol wrote earlier, due to omissions in the assignment, Bulgaria\u2019s system of ID documents cannot pass a security audit to this day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Bulgarian Centralized Excise Duty Information System (BACIS) for exchange of information between the Customs and the National Revenue Agency (NRA) is at the center of a political scandal and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":true,"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":[5542,5806,5550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investigations-en","category-leading-en","category-short-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nWho Is Behind Bulgaria\u2019s Broken Excise Duty System? 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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":37853,"position":1},"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":46776,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bulgarian-competition-watchdog-refuses-to-probe-bombardier-and-gp-group-in-aftermath-of-bivols-publication.html","url_meta":{"origin":37853,"position":2},"title":"Bulgarian Competition Watchdog Refuses to Probe Bombardier and GP Group in Aftermath of Bivol\u2019s Publication","author":"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0439 \u041c\u0430\u0440\u0447\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e","date":"18 April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bulgarian Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) is refusing to conduct an expert verification of facts published in Bivol\u2019s investigation BOMBARDIER AND GP GROUP WIN PUBLIC RAILWAY PROCUREMENT FOR 200 MILLION THROUGH FRAUD. Representatives of the claimant, the consortium TKP \"Plovdiv-Burgas\", alerted Bivol of this decision taken at a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Comments","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/comments-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Bivol-Bombardier-00.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Bivol-Bombardier-00.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Bivol-Bombardier-00.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Bivol-Bombardier-00.jpg?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":37853,"position":3},"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":[]},{"id":25875,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/state-hackers-from-bulgarian-national-security-agency-caught-with-pants-down-by-canadian-lab.html","url_meta":{"origin":37853,"position":4},"title":"\u201cState Hackers\u201d from Bulgarian National Security Agency Caught with Pants Down by Canadian Lab","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"9 February 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bulgarian server with the spyware virus Fin Fisher, detected two years ago in the Ministry of Public Administration, has an IP address belonging to DANS. This emerged from the new data published by the Canadian laboratory Citizen Lab. The IP address of the server is 212.122.185.62 and leads directly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Leading"","block_context":{"text":"Leading","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/leading-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/finspy-dans.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/finspy-dans.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/finspy-dans.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/finspy-dans.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/finspy-dans.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/finspy-dans.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":37853,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/mitnici.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37853","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=37853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}