Forestry Department Building Let out for Hunting Tourism by Ministry of Agriculture

The chalet serves as a tourism facility and is located within the Rila National Park, outside the “Panichishte” game-breeding zone.

The Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) has notified the Chief Inspectorate of the Council of Ministers of suspected legal antinomy with regard to Order no. РД 48-5/19 January 2018 of the Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Forests concerning a tender for the management of the game in the Panichishte game-breeding zone which is under the jurisdiction of the Dupnitsa State Forestry Department.

According to ACF experts, item VIII of the order mentions the letting out of a hunting tourism base, Rilski Ezera (“Rila Lakes”), with identifier: 65365.210.91.9, situated in the town of Sapareva Banya (land lot with identifier 65365.210.91, with a floor area of 100 m2, Private State Property Act no. 1384/12 November 2013).

The ACF legal team searched the cadastral administrative information system for more details and found out that the Rilski Ezera building is not situated within the Panichishte game-breeding zone but on the territory of Rila National Park. In addition, the cadastral map and register specify that the premises are functionally intended for a tourism building.

The fund’s experts also considered the following facts: pursuant to § 1, item 15 of the Hunting and Game Protection Act, “bases for hunting tourism” are the buildings and adjacent terrains and infrastructure specialized for the needs of the hunting tourism. In addition, the Protected Areas Act, via the provision of Art. 21, item 10, forbids any game-breeding activity and hunting in protected areas, with the exception of cases when the number of animal species needs to be controlled.

Considering the high public sensitivity to topics associated with the transparent management of natural parks and protected areas in the country, ACF has notified the Inspectorate of the Council of Ministers and is expecting it to conduct a comprehensive inspection, to collect all relevant evidence, and to find out whether the law has been violated.

Photograph by: Asen Dimitrov