New ACF Investigation Exposes Suspected Large-Scale Corruption Scheme within the Road Infrastructure Agency

A new investigation by the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation (ACF) has uncovered a corruption scheme worth millions and rigged public tenders at the Road Infrastructure Agency (API).

The investigation, titled API and the Seven Percent, is based on documents and testimony from Anton Taskov, owner of Bituleit Ltd., one of Bulgaria’s leading companies for road marking services.

According to Taskov, public money for road marking was diverted as bribes to senior government officials and individuals linked to them. This was being done through a shell company, acting as an intermediary, and part of a consortium of which Bituleit Ltd. was also a member.

In 2019, API announced a tender for road marking in the six planning regions of Bulgaria. Taskov claims that shortly before the tender, he was contacted by Miroslav Manolov, a former director of Trace Group Hold JSC, a company implicated in a number of media reports on corruption in road construction. Manolov told Taskov that, with the help of API officials, he could arrange for him to win a tender procedure for one of the regions. For this service, Manolov requested seven per cent of the contract amount.

“Miroslav Manolov told me that five per cent had to be given as a stimulus for awarding the projects while two per cent would go to him,” said Taskov in a video released by the ACF today.

Taskov went on to say that Manolov had informed him that the five percent would be spent on illegal commissions for senior government officials, including Nikolay Nankov, the then Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works. In 2017, Nankov had started out as a minister in Boyko Borisov’s third government but he resigned from the post following the deadly traffic accident near the town of Svoge on 20 September, 2018. Less than a month after his resignation, Nankov was reappointed by Prime Minister Borisov to the post of Deputy Minister of Regional Development. In April 2019, API was added to Nankov’s portfolio. Media reports from 2019 quote Nankov as a representative of the ministry on issues related to API. Nankov served as Deputy Minister until May 2021.

In a written response to the ACF, Nikolay Nankov denied that oversight of API had ever been within his remit as deputy minister, citing an order of the Minister of Regional Development from October 2018. However, upon repeated inquiry, Nankov provided a supplementary order from April 2019, which shows that API was added to his portfolio.

Nankov did not answer the ACF’s question whether he was acquainted with Miroslav Manolov, stating that he would file a lawsuit for defamation in connection with the allegations of irregular practices damaging his good name.

“The ACF emphasizes that it has no information about which specific API officials received the diverted funds, or whether any of these funds did reach Nikolay Nankov. We are disclosing these allegations because of the great public importance of the information about abuses at API and we call on the responsible institutions to investigate immediately,” said Sofia Zheleva, a legal advisor with ACF.

In order to participate in the tender, Taskov’s company joined a consortium — “Consortium Bitulight 2018” — with the company Belichanski Kashti EOOD, represented by Neli Vasileva, Manolov’s life partner. In the past, the pair have been linked to claims of other corruption schemes in road construction.

According to its founding documents, Belichanski Kashti EOOD’s line of business is hotel services and tourism. However, its expertise did not prove to be an obstacle to its participation in a consortium for road marking. According to Taskov, Belichanski Kushti EOOD was not performing any activities under the public contract, but was used as a shell company so that the agreed seven per cent of the contract value could be diverted.

In 2020, API ranked Consortium Bituleit 2018 as the winning candidate in the tender procedure for Bulgaria’s Southwestern region, and in early 2021, the consortium signed a contract and an annex to it for a total value of BGN 18.9 mln. The total amount transferred to Belichanski Kushti EOOD under this contract was BGN 1.17 mln. The ACF has reviewed company documents confirming that within a few days after each payment by API for work performed under the contract, Bituleit Ltd. transferred seven per cent of the invoice amounts to the account of Belichanski Kushti.

In 2023, during the term of Minister Ivan Shishkov in the second caretaker cabinet of Galab Donev, a new tender for road marking was launched. Anton Taskov participated in the tender both as part of Consortium Bituleit 2018 and independently via the company Signalization Ltd.

The ACF reviewed the technical proposals of both companies and found that they were identical. Nevertheless, the API officials evaluating the proposals for the tender procedure gave the two companies vastly different scores. The proposal submitted by Consortium Bituleit 2018 was awarded 25 points vs. 0 points for the proposal by Signalization Ltd. Thus, Consortium Bituleit 2018 was ranked first.

“There is no logical or legal explanation for the fact that what was effectively the same bid received a different result depending on who had submitted it. This circumstance strongly suggests the existence of a prearranged scheme to award the consortium which includes the shell company Belichanski Kushti,” said Sofia Zheleva.

In December 2023, during the term of Minister Andrey Tsekov in Nikolay Denkov’s government, Consortium Bituleit 2018 signed a new contract with API for the provision of road marking services in the Southwestern region. The value of the contract was BGN 42 million, including VAT.

Taskov claims that shortly after the signing of the contract Miroslav Manolov asked him to double the amount diverted through Belichanski Kushti EOOD, from seven per cent to 15 per cent. Taskov refused, which led to a rift between the two.

Immediately after Taskov’s refusal to divert the higher amount, Consortium Bituleit 2018 came under unusual pressure from API. In 2024, API refused to pay over BGN 5 mln. for work completed by the consortium which the agency had approved. In addition, API officials started setting unrealistically short deadlines for the completion of activities under the contract. For example, an area of 13,500 square meters had to be completed in just two months during the winter season. By comparison, under the 2021 contract, a smaller section of 10,000 square meters had to be marked for a period three times longer, i.e., seven months.

The consortium’s inability to comply with those new deadlines became a reason for the termination of the contract in February 2025. In addition, API is claiming damages and to asking for the contract guarantee in the amount of BGN 68,840.

Following the dissolution of the contract, API awarded the activities through an in-house procedure to the state-owned company Avtomagistrali. This was done despite public information that Avtomagistrali lacked the necessary equipment and personnel to perform the task. An on-site check by ACF staff has revealed that the work is carried out by subcontractors in violation of the Public Procurement Act and the contract between API and Avtomagistrali.

“The investigation raises serious questions about the institutional role of the Road Infrastructure Agency which, instead of monitoring road safety, seems to have become a tool for exerting pressure on businesses and distributing irregular commissions. We call on the institutions to launch an investigation immediately,” said Boyko Stankushev, director of the ACF.

The ACF sent questions to the Road Infrastructure Agency and other relevant institutions and individuals. Avtomagistrali did not respond.

API has stated that “allegations of manipulation in public procurement and the diversion of sums of money for the selection of a contractor for horizontal road marking on national roads are not known to the present management of the Road Infrastructure Agency, contracts are awarded in accordance with the Public Procurement Act and are controlled by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Public Procurement Agency, the Court of Auditors, and the Financial Inspection Agency”. The agency has further stated that the guarantee for the capacity of the contractor Avtomagistlari is a declaration it had submitted stating that that it had no right to subcontract the subject of the contract or parts thereof to other entities and that it can perform the contract with its own resources.

The full comments from public institutions and all concerned individuals are available in the video.