Dogan’s Thermal Power Plant

In late 2017, a company with no relevant experience acquired Varna TPP – back then Bulgaria’s second-largest thermal power plant – from Czech energy company, CEZ. At the time of the transaction, the Varna-based company Sigda was owned by the family of Danail Papazov, a former transport minister. In August 2018, Ahmed Dogan, honorary chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – a political party that is traditionally well-represented in Bulgaria’s National Assembly – acquired a majority stake in the power plant.
The mechanism of acquisition and the subsequent decisions of public bodies, which opened the doors to millions in state funding, raise a number of questions about the ability of institutions to defend the public interest in cases where significant material interest of influential figures are involved. This is precisely why, on 19 June 2019, ACF filed reports with four public institutions – the State Agency for National Security, the Ministry of Energy, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, and the National Revenue Agency. We call on the above-mentioned institutions to carry out exhaustive checks and to be transparent about the results.