Former Acting Minister of Agriculture Ivan Hristanov stated in “The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov“ that he was the first to bring out data from the parliamentary rostrum about the violations related to the “Baba Alino“ case, emphasizing that after his public statement, “complete silence“ from the institutions and a lack of immediate reaction followed.
He commented on the role of the forestry services and the institutions involved in the case. According to him, there are examples of reaction, but they were not followed by systematic actions.
“At the end of November, the Varna Regional Forestry Directorate, this is the Varna Regional Forestry Directorate, went on a signal. It received a signal, they immediately went and cracked down on them 20 acts. Good morning, 20 acts of violations.“
He emphasized that part of the administration acted, but raised the question of why other institutions did not react. The former minister continued with allegations of follow-up actions and lack of control over illegal practices.
„They then sold housing for a long time, what we learn from public statements, through aggressive advertising.“
He pointed out that it was as a minister that he presented the information publicly from the parliamentary rostrum.
„I presented this data on March 6 from the parliamentary rostrum. Officially.“
According to him, this was the first time that a senior state representative had publicly presented the data:
„Everything that is currently unfolding, this whole horror of lawlessness, of illegally felled forests, of entering foreign territories, including the state forestry enterprise, of reports submitted to the prosecutor's office, to which there was no reaction, reports submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to which there was no reaction, reports submitted to the Municipality, to which there was also no reaction. I brought all this up on March 6.“
He said that he expected an immediate institutional reaction after his statement:
„And I expected that they would immediately start calling from one ministry, from the other, from the Municipality, from the prosecutor's office. Give us more materials, what I have with you... complete silence. It's as if I had said nothing. I was shocked.“
From his words it became clear that he was surprised by the fact that Mayor Blagomir Kotsev said that the front offices had not provided him with assistance.
„He did not call to ask for help. I also spoke to my fellow ministers and he didn't call them.“