So far, ten employees of the “Automobile Administration“ have been fired after oral and written signals of corruption from companies so far. This was stated at a briefing to journalists in Ruse by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadzhov. He is in the Danube city for an information meeting in Ruse, which is part of the National Information Campaign for the Introduction of the Euro in Bulgaria.
Minister Karadzhov encouraged companies to file signals when employees of the “Automobile Administration“ have asked them for a “peace fee“ or they have been extorted in any other form.
All written signals, which even abstractly mention corruption, have been sent to the Prosecutor General, the Minister said. According to him, companies are giving signals that agency employees have asked them for a “peace fee”, extorting them for one thing or another, or harassing them. But they say: “I don't dare to put my signature, because today you are a minister, tomorrow you won't be, and they will come and drive me crazy”, Karadjov added.
He noted that 10 employees have already left under articles of the Labor Code. We have found a way so that the court cannot bring them back. “The rotten apples must be removed from the basket. The most serious remedy is that the road control will be carried out by one body and all the public and media monitoring will be focused there to see if there is corruption or not," the Minister of Transport noted.
He noted that currently the salary in the “Automobile Administration“ is very low, but added that the situation is similar with other agencies of the Ministry of Transport.
“Now is not the time when I can promise a salary increase. Apart from that, I do not think that any strike is being prepared in the “Automobile Administration“. I think this is fake news. Rather, the desire to supposedly instigate a strike is from a group of people who were affected by the anti-corruption measures that I introduced. People who, to put it mildly, have a questionable reputation and have been chased by this agency on the same occasion, are currently wondering how to keep their place. This job will not be done. It is always like this, when you reach into the hive of drones that are basking in the common honey, they slowly start to hear how to sting you“, Minister Karadjov also said, quoted by BTA.
He added that Bulgaria will introduce on time all the changes imposed by the new European Union directives, which aim to improve road safety and reduce accidents. “We have introduced some of these rules a long time ago. For example, the Annual Technical Inspection. Regarding the age of a car, as well as its mileage, since you know that certain manipulations are made there, we have also made some progress. From this point of view, there are countries that have never had this, have never implemented it“, noted Grozdan Karadjov.
He added that our country is currently refraining from allowing 17-year-olds to have the right to a driver's license. “As a country with the highest trauma rate and the most deaths on the roads, where according to statistics, young drivers have a very significant share, it is even riskier for us to reduce this age to 17 years. We are not against this, if I may put it that way, but we have "abstained" and perhaps the introduction will take place as late and postponed as possible, as far as the European treaty to which we are committed allows us“, noted the Minister of Transport.
He added that there is a certain readiness to issue electronic driver's licenses, and for this purpose there is such a development by the Ministry of Electronic Governance.