Minister Andrey Tsekov admitted that he found out from the media that an investigation is being conducted into the construction of a famous tunnel on our highway.
The European Prosecutor's Office is investigating the construction of the "Railway" tunnel that was discovered a little over a month ago. on Struma highway. The offices of companies that participated in the construction of the largest tunnel in our country were searched.
The European Prosecutor's Office reported that today the offices of six companies and four private houses were searched in two regions of the country. The aim is to collect "evidence on suspicions of embezzlement, misuse of European funds and money laundering related to the construction of the "Railway" tunnel. It is the longest road tunnel in our country and was opened for traffic at the end of February this year.
Construction began in 2019 and ended in 2023. Payments were also made during this period. According to the data of the regional ministry, nearly BGN 260 million were paid to the contractor. The contractor is a consortium that includes three companies. The European Public Prosecutor's Office reports that an investigation has begun following a tip-off received by DANS. One of the companies, part of the consortium that built the tunnel, is suspected of several criminal offences, including embezzlement, misuse of EU funds and money laundering. Who she is is not clear. The regional minister told bTV that he found out about the investigation from the media.
„If assistance was needed from the MRRD and API, they would have turned to us, at this stage they did not,” the resigned regional minister Andrey Tsekov told BTV.
„Kalin Stoyanov was very active with Boyko Rashkov's team, then they raised a case against him. Is there a dependency – time will tell“, he pointed out.
The European Prosecutor's Office indicates that the construction contractor received approximately BGN 185 million, 85% of which was financed by European funds. In a very short time, the company under investigation made several fictitious money transfers worth over 11 million BGN to a chain of hollow companies, which led to the withdrawal of large sums of cash from individuals with criminal records.
„I think we are seeing a pattern that we also observed for the “Hemus” highway. API's relations are with the contractor consortium, payments are made at the consortium's expense. After that, how the funds are distributed, we do not have such information”, stressed Minister Tsekov.
The regional ministry clarified that two transfers were made to the construction contractor for 11 million BGN each. Once in July 2021 and on 1 June 2023
One of the companies in the consortium "GP Group" claimed in a press release that he was not under investigation. The other two companies in the consortium “Global Construction” and “Your Plan” did not comment. The investigation is ongoing.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office reports that the companies and individuals also appear in another of their ongoing investigations into infrastructure projects in the rail sector.