site.btaContract to Supply Fuel to Prisons Awarded Transparently - Justice Ministry

The public procurement procedure for supplying gas oil for industrial and everyday use to the territorial services of the Directorate General for Execution of Punishments was conducted in an absolutely open and transparent manner, without any irregularities and within the established timeframe, the Justice Ministry said on Sunday.

The Ministry reacted to allegations about dubious dealings related to fuel supplies to prisons, which were discussed by political analyst Kaloyan Metodiev on bTV earlier in the day.

Metodiev said that on December 23, 2022 the M-Forma company won a BGN 12 million public procurement contract to supply fuel to prisons across Bulgaria. "The company has been winning an avalanche of public procurement contracts with the blessing and the permission of Justice Minister Krum Zarkov", Metodiev said. He called for a check into whether executives of this and two other companies acted as donors for President Rumen Radev's reelection campaign.

The Justice Ministry explained that they could have ordered fuel for the prisons through direct negotiations, because this is a product traded via the commodity exchange, but they chose a procedure under the Public Procurement Act. The contractor has been selected but the contract has not been signed yet, because the procedure is under appeal and the Supreme Administrative Court is expected to render judgment.

During a public procurement procedure, the contracting party is not required to check whether the bidders were donors to somebody's election campaign, Deputy Justice Minister Maria Pavlova said.