{"id":39660,"date":"2018-05-20T11:55:44","date_gmt":"2018-05-20T09:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg?p=39660"},"modified":"2018-05-22T17:14:34","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T15:14:34","slug":"embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html","title":{"rendered":"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, Bivol published an expert report<\/a> describing the mechanisms for misappropriating European money. The report matched a series of investigations into theft from road construction, guesthouses<\/a>, and other schemes<\/a> that drain European taxpayers’ money under the so-called “Rural Program” (Rural Development Program, RDP). These publications also echoed in Brussels, where the European Union (EU) demanded changes to the Public Procurement Act to end these thefts.<\/p>\n

On April 15, 2016 (two months after the publication of the report), one of the main ways of regulating public procurement – evaluation criteria which do not contribute to the final result – was banned with amendments to the Rules on the Implementation of the Public Procurement Act (Article 33, Paragraph 1).<\/p>\n

This change is an achievement in itself, but as it is well known, there are good laws in Bulgaria that are simply not being respected, especially when it is necessary to “divide the portions” between “circles of companies” or, to put it simply – to steal some money.<\/p>\n

This is exactly what happened with the ban introduced by Article 33. Paragraph 1. This was established through an investigation by Bivol into the first 15 municipal projects approved for funding during the “new” 2014-2020 programming period. In all of them, the law had been breached on a massive scale. These are contracts amounting to BGN 43 million, signed on September 19, 2017.<\/p>\n

The review of public procurement for these projects, launched in early 2018, shows a massive violation of the law. The used evaluation methodologies give more weight precisely to prohibited criteria such as “completeness and how the information is presented in the documents”<\/em><\/strong>. This is something that under the law cannot be used as a benchmark for bids\u2019 evaluation.<\/p>\n

Whether descriptions are included in the technical proposal and\/or are sufficiently clear, detailed, relevant, etc. does not contribute in any way to the end result. On the other hand, the unlawful use of these criteria leads to a distortion of the choice of contractor and consequently, to huge financial losses for the national and European budgets.<\/p>\n

A detailed analysis of the unlawful criteria for each of the contracts can be seen in the table<\/a> attached to this article.<\/p>\n

Who is to blame and who pays?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The employees of the State Fund for Agriculture (SFA), who have approved the use of these evaluation methodologies also bear administrative and criminal responsibility. All launched procedures are subject to prior control by the SFA under Article 50 Paragraph 2 of Ordinance 12 from July 25, 2016.<\/p>\n

The latter means that the Fund coordinates unlawful evaluation methodologies.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We already have an example of the severe consequences of the use of unlawful methodologies for evaluation in the previous programming period 2007-2013. In its eleventh hour, on October 31, 2016, the second government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov decided to pay from the state budget i.e. from the money of ordinary Bulgarian taxpayers over BGN 300 million for the financial corrections imposed by the European Commission on municipal projects. At that time, this decision against the interests of Bulgarian people was justified with the so-called \u201cgrowing pains\u201d, i.e. the municipalities had no experience of working with EU funds. This is a pure lie for two reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The municipalities have experience of working with EU funding under the SAPARD pre-accession program;<\/li>\n
  2. The financial corrections have not been imposed due to any specificities in the implementation of projects funded by the European programs, but due to gross violations of the Public Procurement Act or unjustified failure to complete the projects.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Approvals by the SFA and use of the abovementioned unlawful evaluation methodologies lead to a single conclusion – the third \u201cBorisov Cabinet\u201d has not learned any lessons from the financial corrections imposed in the previous programming period and will keep the \u201cgrowing pains\u201d in place.<\/p>\n

    See also:<\/p>\n

    How to Steal from Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n

    https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/how-to-steal-from-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture.html<\/a><\/p>\n

    SFA Official Is Dismissed \u2013 System Remains in Captivity<\/strong><\/p>\n

    https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/sfa-official-is-dismissed-system-remains-in-captivity.html<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

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

    Two years ago, Bivol published an expert report describing the mechanisms for misappropriating European money. The report matched a series of investigations into theft from road construction, guesthouses, and other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_crdt_document":"","_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":"The public procurement law concerning municipal projects financed by the EU is being violated once again","_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,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","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":[5544,5806],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comments-en","category-leading-en"],"yoast_head":"\nEmbezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues - 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\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two years ago, Bivol published an expert report describing the mechanisms for misappropriating European money. The report matched a series of investigations into theft from road construction, guesthouses, and other…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bivol!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bivolnews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bivolnews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-20T09:55:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-22T15:14:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"580\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"416\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/bivolbg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad1863f03d50318f746757ba517286a2\"},\"headline\":\"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-20T09:55:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-22T15:14:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\"},\"wordCount\":658,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/dfz.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Comments\",\"Leading\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\",\"name\":\"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues - Bivol!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/dfz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-20T09:55:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-22T15:14:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad1863f03d50318f746757ba517286a2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/dfz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/dfz.jpg\",\"width\":580,\"height\":416},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u041d\u0430\u0447\u0430\u043b\u043e\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\",\"name\":\"Bivol!\",\"description\":\" Mind the horns!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad1863f03d50318f746757ba517286a2\",\"name\":\"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e3a6263fb31a1f9d980ef7f7f1e4b9e641dc9b309a53c3e112cc8bb4e679df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e3a6263fb31a1f9d980ef7f7f1e4b9e641dc9b309a53c3e112cc8bb4e679df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e3a6263fb31a1f9d980ef7f7f1e4b9e641dc9b309a53c3e112cc8bb4e679df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a\"},\"description\":\"The BIVOL itself\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bivolnews\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/https:\\\/\\\/twitter.com\\\/bivolbg\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bivol.bg\\\/en\\\/author\\\/bivol\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues - Bivol!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues","og_description":"Two years ago, Bivol published an expert report describing the mechanisms for misappropriating European money. The report matched a series of investigations into theft from road construction, guesthouses, and other…","og_url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html","og_site_name":"Bivol!","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bivolnews\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bivolnews\/","article_published_time":"2018-05-20T09:55:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-05-22T15:14:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":580,"height":416,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/bivolbg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html"},"author":{"name":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en#\/schema\/person\/ad1863f03d50318f746757ba517286a2"},"headline":"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues","datePublished":"2018-05-20T09:55:44+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-22T15:14:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html"},"wordCount":658,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg","articleSection":["Comments","Leading"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html","url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html","name":"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues - Bivol!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-20T09:55:44+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-22T15:14:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en#\/schema\/person\/ad1863f03d50318f746757ba517286a2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg","width":580,"height":416},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/embezzlement-by-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture-continues.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u041d\u0430\u0447\u0430\u043b\u043e","item":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Embezzlement by Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture Continues"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en#website","url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en","name":"Bivol!","description":" Mind the horns!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en#\/schema\/person\/ad1863f03d50318f746757ba517286a2","name":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e3a6263fb31a1f9d980ef7f7f1e4b9e641dc9b309a53c3e112cc8bb4e679df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e3a6263fb31a1f9d980ef7f7f1e4b9e641dc9b309a53c3e112cc8bb4e679df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e3a6263fb31a1f9d980ef7f7f1e4b9e641dc9b309a53c3e112cc8bb4e679df9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a"},"description":"The BIVOL itself","sameAs":["https:\/\/bivol.bg","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bivolnews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/bivolbg"],"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/author\/bivol"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/dfz.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peFaG8-ajG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103336,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/update-hal-billion-social-ministry.html","url_meta":{"origin":39660,"position":0},"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":39660,"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":39580,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/who-absorbs-public-money-for-private-business.html","url_meta":{"origin":39660,"position":2},"title":"\u201cWho\u201d Absorbs Public Money for Private Business","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"1 May 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Quantitative increase in substance, once it reaches a critical threshold, results in a qualitative transformation, historical materialism teaches us. Quantitative increases of money distributed by the State often lead to malignancies. Alongside the accumulated State money, circles of companies connected to political parties are being formed and \u201cbest men\u201d and\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\/2018\/05\/ringnew.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/ringnew.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/ringnew.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/ringnew.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29716,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/how-to-steal-from-bulgarian-state-fund-agriculture.html","url_meta":{"origin":39660,"position":3},"title":"How to Steal from Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"20 February 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"An expert report that Bivol has examined exposes evidence of a criminal corruption scheme and colossal abuse of European Union (EU) money in the Bulgarian State Fund \"Agriculture\" (SFA) which is responsible for the diversion of millions of euros from the Program for Rural Development 2007-2013. The report is 16-page\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "DFZ"","block_context":{"text":"DFZ","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/b-files-en\/dfz-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30284,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/sfa-official-is-dismissed-system-remains-in-captivity.html","url_meta":{"origin":39660,"position":4},"title":"SFA Official Is Dismissed \u2013 System Remains in Captivity","author":"\u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"5 April 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We learned from a brief message of the SFA press office, sent Monday evening (April 4, 2016) that one of the protagonists in an investigation of Bivol has been \"dismissed\". Dear colleagues, In connection with a signal and subsequent probe that established omissions in the submission of compulsory declarations by\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\/2016\/04\/yanaki-audi.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/yanaki-audi.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/yanaki-audi.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/yanaki-audi.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/yanaki-audi.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/yanaki-audi.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31101,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/brussels-is-stopping-agri-payments-until-weaknesses-are-removed.html","url_meta":{"origin":39660,"position":5},"title":"Brussels Is Stopping Agri Payments Until Weaknesses Are Removed","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"15 June 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The European Commission does not believe the Bulgarian Certification Body for the Rural Development Program (RDP) and will not propose the accounts of the Paying Agency, the State Fund Agriculture (SFA), for 2015 for clearance. This means that nearly 1.1 billion levs under RDP and direct agri-environment payments will not\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\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/DFZ-arhiv-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39660","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=39660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}