site.btaState Consolidation Company Says Its Structures Are Being Used for Political PR

The State Consolidation Company (SCC) said Wednesday that state-owned companies are being used in political campaigning in the run-up to the October 2 snap general elections. "The complete fusion between party personalities and state-owned companies within the State Consolidation Company system has led to the fact that these structures are now being used for party PR in the run-up to the election campaign. This tarnishes the image of companies with a long history and can damage contracts that are performed in Bulgaria and abroad," SCC wrote in a statement.

It says that its statement was prompted by a series of press releases put out by VMZ-Sopot and Kintex, two major companies in the Bulgarian military-industrial complex, which are in the SCC portfolio, which, in SCC's words, contain manipulative information, commercial information leaks and insults against third parties, who may claim reputational damages in court, for which the State will have to pay.

The SCC is fully state-owned. It was established in 2010 to consolidate under one umbrella organization companies which have financial woes or companies with strategic significance for the Bulgarian company. As of this date, the SCC portfolio includes 16 companies, among them VMZ Sopot, the largest ordnance factory in Bulgaria, military aircraft repair plant Avionams, armament and ammo supplier Kintex and dairy producer LB Bulgaricum.