The Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint is one of the largest in the world in terms of the number of passengers and the amount of cargo passing through it. According to data from 2008, it is the second busiest land border crossing in the world and the busiest in Europe. Both cars and buses, as well as trucks pass through it.
A scandal with „EuroLab 2011“ recently broke out. At the moment it has been established that on December 31, 2021 the then Deputy Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency /BFSA/ Eng. Nikolay Rosnev signed a new lease agreement with „EuroLab 2011“ despite the order of the Minister of Agriculture Ivan Ivanov not to conclude new ones. According to its strength, the company in question is becoming the only operator of premises for the preparation of food and goods of animal and plant origin for border veterinary and phytosanitary control.
On April 4, 2022, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov visited the border checkpoint. After the visit, the head of his office said that the work of the private company at the checkpoint was formal, and the place where phytosanitary and veterinary control should be carried out was cleaner than a hospital ward, which meant that no animal had ever entered for examination.
Shortly afterwards, Eng. Rosnev was removed from office. It is interesting that the next day, the Commission for Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property (CCCCIP) launched an investigation into a conflict of interest of Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ivan Hristanov, who is responsible for the BFSA and food import control at the borders.
The contract between the BFSA and ”EuroLab 2011″ was terminated on May 19 – 2 days after the company’s manager Vasil Dimitrov distributed an open letter in which he stated that in February he came into contact with „a person close and directly related to a famous a Bulgarian businessman whose name is associated with organized crime since the transition ”. He told him that the businessman in question wanted to take“ his business. He offered to sell it at a price set by him. It was his signal that provoked a sitting of the Anti-Corruption Commission in the National Assembly. It was closed, but after that it became clear that oligarchs, bribes and even threats to the life of a deputy minister were mentioned.
A few days ago, the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission in the National Assembly Mihal Kambarev described the situation – Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint is not just Bulgaria’s border, but also external to the European Union, i.e .all vegetable imports to Germany from Turkey, for example, go through a private company, which, in a room without cameras, and decides whether to pass. He claims that for the past 10 years the phytosanitary control of the border has been with the same people, although with 2 different legal entities. “Interpred Eurologistics” is the previous company that operated as a laboratory in 2012. As part of it is Dimitrov, now manager of ”EuroLab 2011″.
According to rough calculations made on the basis of fees collected by the private company, the state suffers losses of BGN 200 million. Kambarev also pointed out that „Eurolab 2011“ charges fees for unloading – the necessary action to make laboratory tests for animal and phytosanitary control, in 3 places at BGN 488, and reports BGN 60 to the budget.
Kambarev also said that serious pressure was put on Director of the BFSA /prof. Dr. Hristo Daskalov/, MPs and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ivan Hristanov. Prof. Daskalov himself added that a man with whom he knew quite well had offered a lot of money, „so that nothing would be touched at the border.“ The allegations are for BGN 6 million on an annual basis. If the state really took BGN 50 million a year, this means that these BGN 6 million might represent about 10% of the business of a private operator.
The state is now trying to stop the injustice and action has been taken so that other companies can carry out this activity on a completely level playing field so that there is no „ours and yours„.
It turns out that many civil servants operating at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint were dependent on „Eurolab 2011“. And now that the BFSA is taking on its role, the workers in question have started sabotaging it – delaying documents, creating tension and leading to conflicts between drivers and employees. However, the changes are obvious and from April smooth processes are going in the right direction.
Bachiyski has been at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint for about a week now, and thanks to him the situation has changed significantly during this time, and it has quickly taken a completely different direction – legality and equality. There is still a lot of work to be done, the foundations have been laid and it is only a matter of time before this border crossing starts to function in the best possible and legal way, and respectively to work for the benefit of the state and not just for one company.
A few days after Bachiyski arrived at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint, he asked representatives of the Organization for the Protection of Bulgarian Citizens (OPBC) whether they could get involved in improving the operation of the checkpoint. The patriotic organization reacted immediately, sending several people.
Representatives of the OPBC commented to Iskra.bg that after their intervention the whole work process was optimized. As a result, there is no such accumulation of trucks, no traffic jams and nervous drivers, new counters are opened, POS terminals are installed. Processing documents and fees is faster. When asked what they found at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint when they arrived there, Stefan Petrov answered:
„Trash, a lot of human trash! Lawlessness that has flourished for many years and that has been imposed by private individuals, of course with the help of dysfunctional institutions and corrupt government officials. All this happened during the rule of GERB and their associates from the MRF. There are civil servants who want to work and do not succumb to corruption, but are „crushed“ by their superiors and forced to serve private interests.“
During their stay, the representatives of the organization monitored the work process of the station to ensure that it proceeds legally and provided assistance in various situations that arose during the work, as well as attempts to intervene in external activities or attempts to threaten. There have also been cases of preventing artificial tension from foreign truck drivers. According to Petrov, this tension was initiated by Bulgarian citizens who are employees of a private company operating at the checkpoint.
„In general, we witnessed the assistance of the employees of the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint. For many years they have done what they want, but they saw that now this can not continue and if they do not cooperate they will become clients of various institutions, and began to cooperate, no matter how unpleasant it was for them,“, Petrov added.
Representatives of the OPBC will stay at the checkpoint as long as necessary to normalize the situation and start working on the law, and not as it was before – because of the orders of a private or corrupt civil servant.
Thanks to Konstantin Bachiyski, the OPBC and like-minded people, new pay desks and additional POS payment terminals are being opened so that this whole flow of trucks can be better served, Rusimov confirmed. He reported that within 3-4 days many things have improved and assured that the situation will become much more favorable.
Konstantin Bachiiski is part of the Anti-Corruption Commission in the 47th National Assembly, and the OPBC – from the Public Council of the National Assembly with the area of competence „Anti-Corruption“. The efforts that patriotic Bulgarians have made in the short time they have been at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint show obvious results, and it can be seen that corruption there is beginning to fade. Their goal is to benefit what is happening in favor of the state, and not to serve private interests related to a particular company and related to the government of Bulgaria over the past 15 years, which involved two political parties – one that ruled loudly and the second – ethnic, ruling in the shadows.
