Scandal over the audits of the National Audit Office ignites parliament

New accusations between the governing parties and the opposition have reignited the dispute over the National Audit Office’s audits of budget management over the past seven years. The audits were carried out at the proposal of the National Assembly after “Progressive Bulgaria” came to power.

The governing formation accused former ministers of concealing expenses and using accounting mechanisms to make the reports appear more favorable.

“The opposition either confuses two fundamentally different types of control and audit, or has consciously tried to conceal the fiscal bombs planted in the past. The ministers performed accounting tricks to adjust the reports,” said Stefan Belchev of “Progressive Bulgaria”.

Temenuzhka Petkova of GERB responded that the accusations were not supported by specifics.

“You cannot say that there were tricks by the ministers and not name who the tricksters were,” Petkova said.

Dispute over the data and the eurozone

Konstantin Prodanov accused the previous government of using distorted data to present a better picture of the country’s financial standing. According to him, decisions, including the one on Bulgaria’s accession to the eurozone, were made on the basis of inadequate information about the country’s readiness.

Petkova rejected the claim, saying that the problem stemmed from the governance of “Progressive Bulgaria” and from an attempt to discredit the previous government.

Accusations over the Road Infrastructure Agency’s contracts

The contracts of the Road Infrastructure Agency also became central to the dispute. Prodanov said that the audit had identified drastic and systematic increases in the projects’ initial estimated values.

According to him, of a total of 213 maintenance contracts, addenda were signed for 139, exceeding the initial value by 78 percent.

“We conclude that they apparently want the resignation of Minister Ivan Shishkov. This is a red card for him,” said Nikolay Nankov of GERB.

According to Nankov, a significant part of the expenses were incurred during Shishkov’s caretaker term as minister of regional development.

Shishkov responded that caretaker governments had paid only for contracts that had already been signed.

“The audit represents the anatomy of GERB’s governance—from 2009 to 2025, together with all the coalitions formed over a period of five years,” said Ivan Shishkov.

Thus, the National Audit Office’s audits turned into yet another political clash over the way public funds have been managed and responsibility for the signing and implementation of contracts.

Sources: nova.bg