Czech Supreme Prosecutor’s Office launches investigation into the sale of Varna TPP to Ahmed Dogan following a report mentioning an ACF investigation
The Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of the Czech Republic has initiated an investigation into the sale in 2017 of Thermal Power Plant Varna, owned by the Czech state company CEZ, to the Bulgarian company Sigda Ltd, acquired by the honorary chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Ahmed Dogan. The Czech Prosecutor’s Office checks the data for possible losses of 8.5 billion Czech crowns (323 million euros), which the state-owned CEZ suffered because of the deal.
The news of the start of the investigation was published today in the Czech edition Seznam Zprávy and confirmed by the sender of the report to the Czech Supreme Prosecutor’s Office, the member of the Senate of the Czech Parliament, Eng. Lukáš Wagenknecht.
Senator Wagenknecht’s report is also based on the findings made by the Capital newspaper and the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) in the June 2019 investigation “Dr. Ahmed Dogan, the Lord of the Cold Reserve.”
The ACF’s investigation alerted about numerous suspicions of abuse around TPP Varna Ltd’s sale, at the end of 2017, to Sigda Ltd, a company without any track record in the energy sector. Months after the sale, the company associated with the former Minister of Transport and longtime head of the Port of Varna, Danail Papazov, was acquired by the honorary chairman of the MRF, Ahmed Dogan. Shortly afterward, the thermal power plant began receiving millions of BGN from the Bulgarian state to serve as a “cold reserve” of the Bulgarian energy sector, a situation that lasted until mid-2020. In connection with tax crimes’ suspicions, in June 2019, ACF alerted the National Revenue Agency. Given the data on significant malfunctions of TPP Varna and the presence of a threat to the country’s energy security, at the same time, ACF alerted the Minister of Energy, the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, and the State Agency for National Security.
“After the publication of our findings, we were contacted by Senator Wagenknecht, who had already filed a complaint with the Czech Prosecutor’s Office. We prepared together, and in November 2019, we submitted a signal to the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office. With a decree from the end of 2020, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office ruled that there was no evidence of crimes, without considering the many facts set out in the report and without carrying out the necessary procedural and investigative actions. We are currently preparing an appeal against the ruling,” said Lora Georgieva, a senior legal expert at the ACF.
“To this day, there is no real institutional reaction to the TPP Varna case in Bulgaria. Bulgarian institutions do not see the many red flags for irregularities in the entire scheme for the purchase and operation of TPP Varna and the adjacent Port of Ezerovo. We welcome the ongoing investigation of the Czech Supreme Prosecutor’s Office and hope that it will protect the interests of both Czech and Bulgarian citizens and taxpayers,” said Boyko Stankushev, director of the Anti-Corruption Fund.
The video investigation “Dr. Ahmed Dogan, the Lord of the Cold Reserve” is available here and is free to use.
Summary of the ACF investigation here.