No Signed Contract, Yet Ministry of Interior Paid Unit Assist to Transport Material Evidence

The Sofia Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior has been paying tens of thousands of euros to the company Unit Assis for the transportation of material evidence, despite the lack of a service provision contract.

From November 2023 until the beginning of 2025, the directorate transferred EUR 30,000 to Yulian Yankov’s company for the transportation of motor vehicles collected by the authorities as material evidence in ongoing pre-trial proceedings.

When questioned by the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation (ACF), the directorate confirmed the payments, adding that it had not signed contracts with private companies for the provision of services involving roadside assistance to light and heavy vehicles.

The regional directorate further noted that Yankov’s company had been selected randomly, based on the decisions of investigative bodies conducting the specific pre-trial proceedings or leading investigations. The lack of own equipment was mentioned as the reason for commissioning Unit Assist’s services.

“Despite the answer that we received from the ministry’s Sofia Regional Directorate, the criteria used to arrive at this so-called random selection remain unknown,” said Sofia Zheleva, a legal expert with the ACF.

Documents received in response to a request under the Access to Public Information Act reveal that the largest share of the funds allocated for the transport of material evidence on behalf of the Sofia Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior was transferred to Unit Assist. From 2023 to 2025, the directorate paid close to EUR 35,000 in total. Almost 85 per cent of this sum was received by Yankov’s company.

According to the directorate, other companies were also selected randomly, including Marina Ltd, Kimba-2021 Ltd, I D Transport Ltd, and S T K Ltd. These companies, however, received significantly smaller amounts. It remains unknown what criteria were used to make these so-called random choices.

Unit Assist was established in the autumn of 2023. Initially, the ownership was shared between Yulian Yankov,  “The Potato”, and the company PSL Broker belonging to Ivelin Karshakov. Since July 2024, Yankov has been the sole owner of Unit Assist.

The ACF has reviewed Yankov’s criminal record, which lists more than 15 convictions for various crimes, including fraud and auto theft using roadside assistance vehicles. In May 2023, he was rehabilitated by the court, an act that enabled Unit Assist in acquiring the license to provide roadside assistance services.

All payments for roadside assistance services to Unit Assist by the Sofia Regional Directorate were made under the leadership of Senior Commissioner Tihomir Tzenov. He was appointed to the post in July 2023 by the then Minister of Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, in the coalition government of Nikolay Denkov and Maria Gabriel. Following the parliamentary elections in October 2024, Stoyanov was elected MP from the quota of Delyan Peevski’s MRF – New Beginning.

In late April this year, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior, Georgi Kandev, announced that a former director in the ministry, whom he identified as “Svetlyo”, is attempting to exert pressure. The ACF has information that the person in question is Svetlozar Lazarov, Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior from 2013 to 2015, with whom Yankov has had regular meetings at the 1119 complex in the Student City district.

“Following the publication of pictures showing Svetlozar Lazarov meeting Yankov, as well as our disclosure of a contract for the exchange of vehicles between Yankov’s wife and one of Lazarov’s sons, we call on the competent authorities to carry out a thorough, independent, and objective investigation into possible institutional protection over Unit Assist and its activities,” said Boyko Stankushev, director of the ACF.

In response to ACF’s questions, the Sofia Regional Directorate maintained that there was no need to initiate public tenders for the provision of road assistance services because the annual cost was below the threshold in the Public Procurement Act. However, what remains unclear is the principle behind the so-called random selection of the contracted companies. ACF approached both Yulian Yankov and Svetlozar Lazarov, but was unable to obtain answers.

Unit Assist’s activities are not limited to their work for the Ministry of Interior. The company emerged as a main protagonist in ACF’s investigation into the state-sponsored roadside assistance programme that, until recently, no member of the public had heard of.

Since the summer of 2025, the Road Infrastructure Agency has, via an illegal subcontracting scheme, channelled millions to Unit Assist and its 17 subcontractors. The interim government discontinued payments for this service, stating that it amounted to a state-sponsored monopoly.