The mayor of the third largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, Pomorie – Ivan Aleksiev, has been caught together with his family consuming a luxurious life through someone else's property – private and municipal. Aleksiev is a fourth-term mayor from GERB, the closest politician to Borisov on the sea, and also the Regional Coordinator of GERB for Burgas Region and a former deputy from his party.
Bivol followed:
– How did public municipal property in Pomorie become a summer residence for the mayor's family?;
– Why did the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev not execute a court decision, but terminate a public procurement under the Public Procurement Act for the repair and modernization of a school?;
– „Metastroy“ EOOD – from public procurement of the Municipality of Pomorie, to the father's house of the mayor of Pomorie;
– Expensive new SUV Audi Q7, model year 2022, declared for ……. 909 leva, or what connects the mayor of Pomorie and the main witness of the prosecution in the case of the bankruptcy of Corpbank – Biser Lazov?;
– Properties for “yellow pennies”.
– Mayor and politician convicted of defamatory campaign against free speech.
„House of the poet“ became „House of the mayor“ of Pomorie
A municipal property on the seashore is used without legal basis as a family summer residence by the mayoral family of Pomorie. The public municipal property has been quite unceremoniously turned into a tourist place of a private nature – for recreation, SPA and sunbathing of a domestic-family type. The two-story old house above the sea – an architectural monument of culture – has a large yard, swimming pool, barbecue shed and butler and is maintained and financed entirely from the municipal budget of Pomorie.
According to the Municipal Property Law and the Ordinance No. 1 of the Municipal Council - Pomorie adopted in its implementation, the public municipal property intended for the implementation of the functions of the Pomorie municipality is managed by the mayor of the Pomorie municipality, under the leadership and control of the local parliament.
The valuable old house, known in Pomorie as the “House of the Poet“, is located in one of the most attractive points of the Black Sea peninsula town, in the oldest part, meters from the beach and the sea, near the Fishing Port (here). The two-story “building for culture and art“, as registered in the Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, has an area of 117 sq. m., is public municipal property and has two entrances/exits – one is at the beginning of the central street “Knyaz Boris I“, and the other welcomes the sunrise over the Black Sea, 3-4 meters from the beach. It is located on a plot of land with an area of 1038 sq. m., representing a yard with a swimming pool to the house, again public municipal property, intended for permanent use as a “culture and art complex“.
“The Poet's House“ is part of the group monument of culture “Ensemble of Old Pomorie Houses“, is indicated on a metal tourist information sign located in front of the high stone fence of the property. The old Pomorie houses are two-story and are representatives of the architectural type of the Black Sea town house from the time of the Bulgarian National Revival. They are the only ones that survived during the great fire in the city in 1906. Near them is the oldest building in Pomorie – the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, built in the second half of the 18th century.
In the past, the idea was to turn the cultural monument into the “House of the Poet Yavorov“, by collecting archival documents about the life and work of the great Bulgarian poet, who lived (in another house) and worked in the former Anhialo (present-day Pomorie) as a telegraph operator. Here he made his debut as a poet and wrote some of his best poetic works.
The idea for the “House of the Poet“ was not realized, but the important building with an attractive location began to be used for the representative needs of the Municipality of Pomorie, and over the years great Bulgarian artists, painters, directors and poets of Bulgaria have stayed there, including Valeri Petrov, who participated in cultural events in the city. However, a previous practice is also being restored – instead of artists, there to "vacation" and get a tan during the summer season are not random representatives of various political parties and officials. Among them - ministers, deputies, heads of agencies…
In the summer of 2024, Bivol came across a strange fact. According to reliable sources, a frequent guest at the property was a citizen of Turkish origin, who arrived in an "Audi" car with a diplomatic red license plate. Information of this kind is extremely important because it reveals the diverse contacts of the local executive authority, in the person of the mayor of the city, and for what purposes the property is used - personal, business or for public benefit. Unfortunately, we were unable to validate it, because before the start of the journalistic investigation, the gentleman in question had left the municipal building, and by the end of it - he never appeared. Instead of a diplomat, however, our media found in the pool of the house the wife of the mayor of Pomorie from GERB Ivan Aleksiev - Anka Aleksieva, who was doing heliotherapy on a swimming mattress at home, together with their daughter. It turned out that this was not a precedent, but a practice for full relaxation - the house from the ancient architectural complex, maintained, furnished and renovated with the money of the taxpayers of the Pomorie municipality, to be used for the personal and family needs of the mayor's family.
On different days, the media documented that in front of one of the entrances of the municipal house, the family car of the mayor of Pomorie is parked - an "Audi" Q7 jeep (which we will pay special attention to a little later). In addition to the wife of the mayor of Pomorie, Anka Aleksieva and their daughter, sometimes the girl also invites friends. We learned from neighbors that an elderly man is taking care of the old house.
Undoubtedly, the use of public municipal property, converted at the expense of taxpayers into a “free guest house“ by the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev – for personal and family needs, meetings and entertainment, does not correspond to its purpose and any representative functions related to the activities of the Municipality of Pomorie. This way of operating the property does not overlap with the official duties, meetings and conversations of the mayor, arising from his powers and his social position as mayor, even less with the management of the property with the care of a good owner, in the interest of the citizens of the municipality. Quite the opposite, because it is the citizens, in the form of taxes and fees, who provide monthly expenses related to the property for water, electricity, consumables, salaries, maintenance, mandatory insurance (according to Art. 9 of the Municipalities Act), and probably also those for drinks and catering, but without having access to the house, unlike the illegally privileged members of the mayor's family. And perhaps not at all coincidentally, but quite reasonably, the house can be found on Google Maps marked as a “branch” of the ”Brunette Beauties” Sunset Resort hotel, which raises doubts – whether over the years it has not been illegally rented out through the one that closed its doors in 2022. complex “Sunset Resort“, or the marking on the world online map is the result of someone's mistake.
With his actions, the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev once again demonstrates absolute nepukism, disrespect for his fellow citizens and a sense of impunity and superiority, because this is not the first time that Bivol reveals how municipal property, belongings and employees are used for the personal and family needs of the mayor's family of Pomorie.
And instead of the vicious practice being stopped even then, it was continued over time with the “House of the Poet“ – public municipal property, as in late autumn, after the journalistic investigation, the yard of the old house, a cultural monument, was furnished with a wooden decorative fence next to the shed, perhaps in the hope that its inhabitants would remain hidden from curious journalistic lenses during the next summer season.
Non-fulfillment of a court decision – no “our company“, no public procurement
The project proposal of the Municipality of Pomorie for the modernization of the “Hristo Botev“ Primary School – town of Aheloy received approval for financing, the local administration informed, the website of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported at the end of August 2023. The public procurement includes renovation of the building stock both outside and inside, with the introduction of energy-efficient (thermal insulation) measures, renovation and furnishing of the school's classrooms – roof repair, window replacement, heating, ventilation and cooling installations, lighting fixtures, construction of a ramp to ensure an accessible environment. The project is under the procedure: “Modernization of the educational environment” under the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan.
A check in the Public Procurement Register shows that the public procurement was opened in September 2023, its estimated value is 1,887,638.82 leva excluding VAT and, without the media-promoted modernization of the school in the town of Aheloy (Pomorie municipality) from the inside and outside having been implemented, the procurement was terminated on July 2, 2024 by decision of the contracting authority - the mayor of Pomorie municipality Ivan Aleksiev.
How and why did it get to this point?
The Municipality of Pomorie selects the company “METASTROY“ EOOD as the contractor for the nearly 2,000,000 leva excluding VAT. The participant in the same procedure “A X Building” The DZZD does not agree with the decision and appeals it to the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC), with the Commission ruling that the removal of “A X Building” DZZD is unlawful and the procedure must be continued. The Mayor of Pomorie Municipality Ivan Aleksiev does not agree with the decision of the CPC and files a cassation appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) through his attorney, attorney Valcho Cholakov (former regional governor of Burgas). And loses the case.
In decision No. 7028/10.06.2024 in case No. 4521/2024, the SAC not only confirms the conclusions and reasons in the decision of the CPC, but also writes that the auxiliary commission of the contracting authority Pomorie Municipality has purely formally assessed the participant “METASTROY” EOOD and motivated itself with a “blanket conclusion”, with the supreme judges indicating – “the cassation instance considers that the stated considerations do not categorically justify the presence of all the supporting circumstances in the proposal of “Metastroy” EOOD. Although the evaluation commission has linked each of the supporting circumstances to separate pages of the offer, this description is too laconic and does not answer the question of how the specific proposal meets the requirements of the contracting authority“ and “the CPC has carried out the control for legality due by law, taking into account that the auxiliary body of the contracting authority has not set forth specific reasons for the evaluation of “Metastroy” EOOD with the maximum number of points under the indicator K2 “Organization for the implementation of the contract“.
In its decision, the Supreme Administrative Court confirms the conclusions of the CPC for the illegal removal of “A X Building” DZZD and the illegal evaluation of “Metastroy” EOOD in the public procurement in question, in which the latter was selected as the contractor of the Municipality of Pomorie. The Supreme Administrative Court upholds the decision of the CPC to annul the act of the contracting authority, the Municipality of Pomorie, and returns the file to the stage of evaluation of the technical proposals of both participants upon implementation of the given instructions.
The Municipality of Pomorie is ordered to pay 9900 leva to “A X Building” DZZD for legal expenses incurred.
The Supreme Administrative Court found that the Municipality of Pomorie unlawfully selected “Metastroy“ EOOD as the winner and contractor of the public procurement for the modernization of the “Hristo Botev“ Primary School in the town of Aheloy. Instead of implementing the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of June 10, 2024 and continuing the evaluation procedure of the two participants – “A X Building” DZZD and “Metastroy“ EOOD, on July 2, 2024, the Mayor of the Municipality of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev decided to terminate the open procedure for the award of a public procurement with the subject “Modernization of the educational environment in the “Hristo Botev“ Primary School – town of Aheloy, Municipality of Pomorie“. As reasons, Aleksiev points out that in the “current procedure violations were found in its opening and conduct“, that is – the contracting authority (Municipality of Pomorie) initially committed violations both in the opening and conduct of the process procedure for awarding the public procurement. Allegations that the Supreme Administrative Court did not find in its decision, after ex officio examining the legality not only in the appealed part, but in its entirety, and precisely because of the lack of such violations, it indicated that the procedure should be continued at the stage of evaluating the two participants, and not be terminated.
Thus, the “modernization“ of the school in Aheloy, which was promised just before the local elections for mayors and municipal councilors in 2023, remains in the “Unfulfilled“ column a year later. The doubts about these actions – to be illegally selected contractor and illegally removed in the interest of a specific legal entity – “Metastroy“ EOOD, adding to this the failure to comply with a court decision to continue the procedure, excluding with its termination the possible possibility of “our company“ being eliminated – correspond to the widely known corruption practices in Bulgaria in the conduct of public procurement, in which the law is circumvented, as the contracting authority sets specific criteria for a pre-selected contractor in exchange for “compliments“.
It turns out that “Metastroy“ EOOD is not at all a coincidence for the local government, but is among the preferred companies of the Municipality of Pomorie when awarding orders for construction and assembly works (C&M&M) during the years of the mandates of Mayor Ivan Aleksiev. In its portfolio, the company indicates that it is behind the design, construction and supervision of the renovation of the following residential buildings, some of which are specified as being under the National Renovation Program – at 13 “Solna“ Str., 8 “Dobrich“ Str., block 21 and block 30 in the “Svoboda“ quarter; the facade of the Regional Police Department – Pomorie; the construction of 20 independent commercial sites, representing the Summer Municipal Bazaar in the top center of the city of Pomorie.
The manager and sole owner of “Metastroy“ EOOD is Mihail Georgiev Spasov. A check in the Commercial Register shows that the company does not submit its Annual Financial Report (AFR) on time, as there is none for 2022 and 2023. While Mihail Georgiev Spasov is not a publicly known figure, the same cannot be said for his son Eng. Georgi Mihaylov Spasov, who heads the technical department of the construction company. It was through him that the name of the company became known in 2019. Then the candidate for mayor of Burgas Municipality Zhivko Tabakov (municipal chairman of the Bulgarian Citizens' Movement/DBG) publicly asked sharp questions through the media to the candidate for mayor of Burgas Municipality Nikolay Tishev (BSP) - is “Metastroy“ connected? Ltd. with BSP and is there a secret agreement between GERB and BSP not to conduct a real election campaign.
„It is about the construction company „Metastroy“, and the socialist mayoral candidate Nikolay Tishev is related to the owners of the company. Although „Metastroy“ is owned by an active member of the socialist party, the company wins public contracts under the national renovation program, and in GERB municipalities. Does a candidate from the BSP list have anything in common with the company “Metastroy?“, asks Tabakov, who was then a municipal councilor of Burgas for a second term, in the last early elections on October 27, 2024, he was a candidate for deputy from…BSP, while he continues to be a municipal councilor of Burgas in the 2023-2027 term. from MK “Levitsata“.
In the same election campaign, a candidate for municipal councilor from the BSP list is Georgi Mihaylov Spasov, son of the owner of “Metastroi“ and an employee of the company. In 2019, he was also elected municipal councilor of Burgas.
Nikolai Tishev is a former municipal councilor of Burgas from the BSP, a former deputy from the BSP, since December 2024 he has been the Municipal Chairman of BSP-Burgas, and since January 2022 he has been the Director of the “Social Assistance“ Directorate - town of Pomorie, which serves the municipalities of Pomorie and Nessebar. From photos published on the social network Facebook, it can be seen that with Georgi Spasov from “Metastroi“ Ltd. maintain close friendly and family relations, outside of political and party ones, but this in no way gives grounds for conviction that it could be the “warm relationship“ between the contracting authority and the contractor of public procurement in the municipality of Pomorie, although questions and doubts about this remain.
Even in the election campaign for mayors and municipal councilors in 2019, when Zhivko Tabakov pointed out that the BSP-affiliated “Metastroy“ was winning public procurement contracts from GERB, finding it disturbing, Eng. Georgi Spasov commented to the Burgas website “Chernomorie“: “I am an employee of the company and, in addition to participating in public procurement in the region, it also has private clients.“.
In 2024, after the local elections for mayor and municipal councilors of the Pomorie municipality were held and when the GERB Regional Coordinator for Burgas Ivan Aleksiev entered his fourth mayoral term in the Pomorie Municipality building, his father's house was expanded by two floors, and a new SUV "Audi" Q7 began to park in front of it. What is more interesting, besides the car, which we will pay special attention to in the following lines, is that the construction and installation work carried out on the Alexiev family house is "monitored" by Georgi Mihaylov Spasov from "Metastroy". The son of the boss of "Metastroy" and head of the company's technical department was recognized on a cold and windy November day by a reporter from "Bivol" in front of the house of the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev - to carefully monitor and coordinate the work process, and during breaks he conducts long telephone conversations, walking back and forth in the mayor's street. The same Georgi Spasov from “Metastroy“, which the CPC and the Supreme Administrative Court ruled was illegally selected by the Municipality of Pomorie as the contractor for a public procurement contract for the modernization of a school facility in the town of Aheloy. And despite the court decision to continue the procedure with the other participant, Mayor Ivan Aleksiev “accidentally“ completely terminated it and remembered that it was initially flawed, only when his choice of a multiple contractor was challenged and canceled.
It seems that some other “lasting trust“ has been built between “Metastroy“ and the mayor of Pomorie, and if we have to quote Georgi Spasov again – “, in addition to participating in public procurement in the region, there are also private clients“.
New mandate, new car… and a “rabbit“ jumps out of it – Biser Lazov from CorpBank
The mayor of Pomorie and regional coordinator of GERB for the Burgas region – Ivan Aleksiev, is the proud owner of an “Audi“ Q7 for “record” 909 leva. This is shown by his declaration before the Commission for Combating Corruption and Illegally Acquired Property (CCAC) from 2023. In the so-called “Declaration of Property and Interests“ Aleksiev declared that in the period 01.01.-31.12.2022 has made a transaction for the purchase of an “Audi Q7 car“ at an acquisition price of 909 leva, with the money coming from his salary.
The stated acquisition price is more than shocking, since the market price for such a make and model of used cars is in the range of 80,000-150,000 leva, depending on the condition and extras.
It is curious that the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev acquired the new vehicle in 2022, but showed it to his fellow citizens only at the beginning of 2024, after the local elections were held in the fall of 2023 and his entry into a fourth managerial term. Until now, he continues to drive his old Q7, which did not amount to more than 40 thousand leva at that time.
A clever move for voters, probably considering that it is not good to show off a new car at the end of his third term, because his fellow citizens may think that he got rich from theft, corruption, overindulgence in power, for example, and dethrone him from the mayor's chair in the upcoming vote. It is no coincidence that the two-story extension of the house in which he lives with his family begins precisely in 2024.
Although Aleksiev indicated that he has owned the car since 2022 for 909 leva in the declaration he submitted in 2023, according to the Law on the Registration of Capital Assets and Taxes, the history of the car informs that its first registration in Bulgaria was in 2021. (the car is brand new), and in the section “Owners of the vehicle“ are listed “AUTO HOUSE BULGARIA“ EOOD – owner and holder of the registration certificate, user Ivan Atanasov Aleksiev and a third party appears who received/transferred the registration certificate – Todor Petkov Angelov. Two services are also available at the beginning of March 2024 – for change of ownership and for change of owner data.
A check of Bivol by VIN (frame) of the jeep on a specialized site showed that the model year of the new car of the mayor of Pomorie is 2022. The sole owner and manager of Auto House Bulgaria is Dimitar Rangelov Kyosev. He is connected in one form or another with nine companies – owner, shareholder, manager, member of the board of directors – registered at one address in the city of Plovdiv. He is also connected through “HAUPTHAUS“ AD with the infamous number one witness of the prosecution in the case of the bankruptcy of Corpbank – Biser Lazov.
A check in the Commercial Register shows that the representative of “Haupthaus“ is Dimitar Kyosev, and the board of directors of the company includes: Dimitar Rangelov Kyosev, Atanas Ivanov Manev and “AUTOHOUSE“ EOOD. The capital of the AD is 10,000,000 leva. From the list of shareholders of “HAUPTHAUSE“ AD, who attended the general meeting of the company held on 08.07.2020, it can be seen that its majority owner with 9,999,200 shares of one leva each is “INNOVATION TRADE“ AD, represented by Biser Andonov Lazov, and a minority shareholder with a modest 200 shares is Dimitar Rangelov Kyosev.
Biser Lazov has been associated with over 40 companies over the years. From being the right-hand man of the majority owner of CorpBank, Tsvetan Vassilev, until 2014, Biser Lazov became the main witness of the prosecution against him after the bankruptcy of Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) in the same year. Media publications trace the rapid enrichment of Biser Lazov precisely after the bankruptcy of CorpBank, when he began to acquire assets of the bank.
„Judging by the documents that the newspaper „BANKER“ has, after on April 22, 2015 the court finally declared CorpBank bankrupt and set June 20, 2014 as the starting date of its insolvency, Lazov began to acquire piles of property and shares from companies with outstanding loans to the bank with enviable speed. This is done through a series of transfers of assets from one company to another, until they reach the “exact“ addressee – either Lazov himself, or his relatives, relatives and business partners“, writes Fakti.bg, citing the “Banker“ newspaper.
“After the closure of CorpBank, Biser Lazov and his close associates, in addition to testifying before investigators, are actively engaged in acquiring property, shares, money, etc. Here are some of the things they took home. From the beginning of 2006 to June 2014. including, Biser Lazov received by bank transfer amounts totaling about 1,100,000 leva. At the same time, the prosecutor's office certainly saw how the balances in his bank accounts from 70,000 leva in early 2008 reached over 1,200,000 leva when the bank was closed. In fact, in 2014, the real amounts at Lazov's disposal significantly exceeded his declared income.
The gains:
Immediately after the bank was declared bankrupt, in early November 2014, Biser Lazov abruptly began acquiring properties, shares, and cash withdrawals and transfers from company accounts had been flowing since before that. Lazov embezzled mostly companies that had been financed by Corpbank. "The assets were successfully and unhindered by the quaestors, receivers, prosecutors, NRA, etc. were transferred from one company to another, controlled by him or his relatives, relatives and business partners" - states the website Frognews.bg in its investigation, listing some of Biser Lazov's appetizing acquisitions and the companies through which he acquired them.
One of the companies through which Biser Lazov carried out transactions for the acquisition of shares from companies-debtors of Corpbank and real estate is precisely „INNOVATION TRADE“ AD, owner of „HAUPTHAUS“ AD, related to „AUTOHAUS BULGARIA“ EOOD, from which the mayor of Pomorie Municipality Ivan Aleksiev receives an AUDI Q7 with model year 2022 for 909 leva.
Properties for “yellow pennies”
The strange facts and circumstances in the declarations of the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev, to which neither the Anti-Corruption Commission nor the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bulgaria pay attention, do not end there. For example, in 2019 Ivan Atanasov Aleksiev and his wife Anka Nedelcheva Aleksieva became owners of a house with a yard in the village of Medovo, Pomorie Municipality for a modest 30,000 leva. The property has an area of 1106 sq.m. and a built-up area of 195 sq.m. The Aleksievs made an extremely profitable deal, with the square meter of the appetizing regulated property costing less than 30 leva per square meter. A price that ordinary citizens would hardly find for a square meter in the Chukari region, let alone for a house with a yard in the village of Medovo, which successfully develops rural tourism and wine production, is located 10 km by car from the beach, and from the peaks above the village a wonderful view of the Black Sea and Sunny Beach, Nessebar, Ravda, Aheloy and Pomorie opens.
Ivan Aleksiev indicated in the declaration he submitted to the KPKONPI in 2020, reflecting circumstances of his property status in 2019, that his funds for purchasing the house with a yard in the village of Medovo came from loans. The same declaration reflects that at this moment the mayor of Pomorie does not have any available funds, and he has a loan of nearly 30 thousand leva and a lease for approximately 25 thousand leva to banking institutions. His wife Anka also does not have any declared available funds, including from salaries.
In 2020, the wife of the mayor of Pomorie, Anka Aleksiev, became the owner of a villa with a summer house in the village of Bliznak, Malko Tarnovo. The property has a total area of 868 sq m, and the built-up area is 42 sq m. Anka acquired the property for 5,000 leva, as the purchase was made with money from salaries, as stated in her husband's declaration. Anka Aleksieva counts approximately 5 leva per square meter for a regulated property in Strandzha Mountain. For the same period, Ivan Aleksiev declared that he had no available savings and had a loan of 26,903 leva and a lease of 14,186 leva.
In 2021, Ivan Aleksiev already had available cash in the amount of 28,245 leva from salaries, and his bank loan became 53,594 leva. In 2022 the mayor of Pomorie buys an Audi Q7 for 909 leva, with a market price of the car of no less than 100,000 leva, his available cash from salaries has increased to 45,994 leva, and the loan is 49,119 leva. In 2023. Aleksiev has accumulated 69,777 leva from salaries, but his wife Anka Aleksiev has also taken care of filling the family budget, who has set aside 57,368 leva from salaries for the same period.
The question that arises with this shocking factual basis in the property declarations of the mayor of Pomorie Ivan Aleksiev for only 4 years ago, without the need to conduct an in-depth legal, financial and economic analysis, is: with what means is the Aleksiev family served, how does it satisfy its needs and requirements with two minor children and does it accumulate additional unregulated assets - for vacations, hotels, plane tickets, clothes, jewelry, cosmetic and beauty procedures, after managing to save not small amounts of money from salaries, repay loans and leases, buy movable and immovable property at enviably low prices over the years and upgrade its house in Pomorie? In fact, there are many questions, especially since it is not known in the city of Pomorie that Anka Aleksieva is actively employed, and one of them is: is she purely formally registered as employed for the official acquisition of money "for pocket money" and what salary does she receive, after she managed to save nearly 60 thousand leva in 12 months - an amount beyond the means of the average Bulgarian family?
But one thing is certainly known not only to Bulgarian citizens, but also to our partner countries, their special services and international organizations, and that is that corruption in the municipalities of Bulgaria is not just a "feeling", but symptomatic of the poorest country in the European Union. It goes hand in hand with the denial of justice, the brazen swindling of local feudal lords, money laundering, the explicit sense of impunity, the siphoning off and exploitation of public resources for personal and family enrichment and property purchases in the country and abroad in simulated transactions, zero added value for citizens and wet orders against investigative journalists.
Convicted of defamation
The mayor of Pomorie, Ivan Aleksiev and Boyko Borisov's most loyal man by the sea, was convicted without appeal by Bivol several years ago for defamation. Aleksiev was the mouthpiece of Delyan Peevski's dirty media smear campaign against our media and our team. He called on the Prosecutor's Office and all state institutions to take action to investigate Bivol, which launched the beginning of an unprecedented repressive attack not only against our team, but also against all directly or indirectly related persons, directed by the VKP and activating almost all state institutions.
Aleksiev's slander was proven in court and placed him forever on the “black list” of those in power who aim to destroy free media in Bulgaria because they are being investigated for various crimes.