The Court of Accounts admitted in its audit report that it itself had violated the Public Procurement Act (PPA) and had bought 25 official cars last year, which it did not need, moreover. This happened at the initiative of the advisor to the then acting chairman of the Court of Accounts, Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, and with her verbal consent. This is stated in a press release sent by the press center of "Yes, Bulgaria". Here is more from the announcement:
In early June this year, Grancharova-Kozhareva was appointed a member of the Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Development Bank, and in August last year she became the first unsuccessful candidate for caretaker prime minister, after refusing to allow President Rumen Radev to replace Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov.
The violation of the law by the highest control and financial institution becomes categorically clear from a 30-page audit report by the Court of Auditors. It was requested by the co-chairman of “Yes, Bulgaria” Ivaylo Mirchev in his capacity as a member of parliament and was sent to him by the chairman of the audit institution, Dimitar Glavchev.
Here is the story of the affair with the official cars of the National Audit Office, according to the audit report prepared by its employees:
Last year, the National Audit Office received a budget increase of 2 million leva for additional capital expenditures to buy cars for its outsourced workplaces in the regional centers. However, the local auditors themselves said that they did not want cars, and some of them do not even have driver's licenses. In addition, they can use public transportation or personal cars at their own expense, although their work very rarely requires them to work outside the office. But after the cars were already purchased, two of the local structures of the National Audit Office - in Yambol and Lovech - refused to accept them. And the initiative for the purchase, which came from the institution's management, explicitly states the need for employees in Lovech to use a new company car.
A change in the public procurement plan, which violated the Public Procurement Act, came at the initiative of an advisor to Grancharova-Kozhareva, which neither falls within his functions nor goes through the administrative system, which is mandatory. Then the chief expert from the financial directorate prepares a technical task, without, however, market consultations being held. It already goes through the administrative system. Then, however, the head of the legal directorate decides to change it, and the chief expert is subsequently forced to sign it, without knowing that it has been changed. The initial technical task, prepared by the chief expert, was deleted from the administrative system.
However, this technical task is a classic violation in public procurement with adjusted parameters in favor of one supplier - an offer for cars that meet its parameters was selected. And all this is happening with the knowledge and consent of the then head of the National Audit Office, Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva.