“Assuming the post of Minister of Justice, I did so with the awareness that all employees in the Ministry and its structures should perceive their work as a service, not as a privilege”, Minister Nikolay Naydenov said at a briefing on Wednesday. He announced that he had identified “shocking and unacceptable practices” at the Registry Agency and proposed to the Prime Minister the dismissal of Executive Director Daniela Miteva.
On his first working day, the Justice Minister requested all available reports from the inspectorate and internal audit in order to familiarize himself with the state of the department. He described the results for the Registry Agency as extremely worrying. “The institution is a strategic structure, and its activities practically concern the life of every Bulgarian citizen and business”, Naydenov emphasized.
The inspection showed that 60% of the staff positions in the general administration are empty. “The agency practically functions without a basic administrative backbone, lacking a general secretary, deputy directors, management of the financial department and an information security officer”, the minister listed. He added that “finances are in disarray, assets are incorrectly accounted for, and there are persistent weaknesses in public procurement”. In addition, the bankruptcy register has not been introduced, and data on discarded documents with personal data have appeared in the public domain.
According to him, signals about these irregularities were received by the Ministry as early as 2024 and 2025, with the inspectors being deliberately obstructed by the executive director by delaying data and providing false information. An official report by the inspectorate recommended the immediate dismissal of the director and referral to the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. However, these recommendations were not implemented. “Moreover, the executive director received quarterly evaluations for his work, the verbal expression of which consisted of exceptional performance or very good performance, behind which were sometimes five-figure bonuses”, revealed Naydenov.
“All recommendations from the audit reports will be implemented, including by referring them to the competent authorities and the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office”, assured the Minister of Justice.
The new management of the Registry Agency is expected to be announced within tomorrow, after passing the coordination procedure with the Prime Minister.