Anti-corruption commission: There is evidence of corruption in procedures for buying antigen tests for school students

Bulgaria’s anti-corruption commission said on January 4 that it has completed the check in the Ministry of Health on four procedures for purchasing SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests for school students. The check started on December 9, 2021 by employees of the Anti-Corruption Commission following on signals and media publications for serious violations in the selection of contractors.

It said that it had requested documents, and had interviewed former caretaker minister and education minister, the former deputy health ministers, including Dimitar Petrov, the Health Ministry’s chief of staff, the heads and members of public procurement commissions and representatives of the companies that took part in the procedures.

It had found that conditions in the procedures had been changed at the stage of signing a contract, after participants had been evaluated and ranked.

The commission also found that certain companies had been “tolerated” and certain deliveries delayed, as a result of which some companies benefited, causing losses to the budget of the Ministry of Health.

The anti-corruption commission referred the findings of its investigation to the Prosecutor’s office because of found evidence of corruption.