Due to a dispute over water supply, hotels and property owners in the “Camping Europe” near Pomorie are without water in the height of the season. The tap was turned by people of a businessman from Burgas claiming ownership of the water supply.
VK-Burgas explained that an investor, i.e. the owner of the facility is the Municipality of Pomorie since 2011 and it should be transferred to them for management. Due to the saga, currently owners of hotels and buildings in the area, who have concluded contracts for individual lots with the water supply company and are regular payers - are without water.
“We have a contract that we signed with ViK-Burgas in 2019. There is also an open lot. This aqueduct has been commissioned, and the street under which it runs – is municipal. At the same time, we have water shut off, he said on the air of "Hello, Bulgaria". said Mr. Tonuzliev, who is one of the owners of the complex with stopped water. And he added that he was "subjected to racketeering by the private owner of the pipe".
A representative of the company that stopped the water explained that “his company has no relations with the owners of the complex”. “We did not give them a Declaration of Consent for joining the water supply system built by us,”, emphasized Todor Todorov.
In his words, the water pipe, which has stopped water and was built by the company,
is temporary and has Act 16 and is owned by businessman Bencho Benchev.
„This private water pipe has not been handed over to the Waterworks for operation, because neither the Burgas Waterworks company nor the municipality want to accept constructed waterpipes that are outside the regulatory limits”, Todorov pointed out.
In a statement from Burgas Waterworks, they state that the water supply belongs to the municipality and in this case it is a question of a private businessman stopping water flowing through a municipal water supply.
The mayor of Pomorie, Ivan Alexiev, explained on the air of the morning block of Nova TV that ViK-Burgas and the businessman are “extremely incorrect towards the people left without water. “This is self-government. The municipality issued a permit in 2009 for a temporary water supply. It was put into operation in 2011 in three properties of Bencho Benchev. How did this water pipe reach the other buildings, without coordination with the water supply – I can't know”, he declared.
In 2023, Bencho Benchev, a former BSP municipal councilor in Burgas and a businessman, ordered the prosecutor's office to pay him BGN 70,000 compensation
for non-pecuniary damages from an illegal charge of harboring Mityo Ochite and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
The criminal proceedings against him were conducted without the accusation being based on real facts, finds the District Court in Burgas, which accepts that the case against Benchev has a direct causal relationship with the damages he suffered.
On June 24, 2021, the district court in Burgas acquitted the businessman of all charges raised by the prosecution. After 1 year of pre-trial proceedings, with an indictment filed in court on July 30, 2019, he was accused of helping Dimitar Zhelyazkov in 2018 – known as Mityo Ochite, to avoid prosecution by transporting him to Turkey and booking him a hotel room. In addition, Benchev possessed 57 live cartridges. The court dismissed the charges of personal concealment and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
The case was tried according to the general procedure, and the prosecution asked the court to impose a suspended sentence for a period of 2 years with a probationary period of 3 years.
After the acquittal was confirmed, Bencho Benchev filed a claim under ZODOV for compensation of one million due to the stress experienced, deteriorated health, ruined public reputation and complete social isolation he fell into after the illegal accusation.
In the course of the case, the court in “undoubted manner” establishes that the damages suffered by the plaintiff, expressed in an emotional breakdown, fear of criminal reprisal, nervousness, irritability, loss of self-esteem, are causally related to the illegal accusation.
From the witness statements and the conclusion of the forensic psychological examination heard, the District Court found lasting health and mental “damages”.
Bencho Benchov has been a large grain producer and lover of luxury cars for years.