Caretaker Minister of Economy fired members of the Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Development Bank

More key changes at the top of important institutions are taking place on May 27. The caretaker Minister of Economy, Kiril Petkov, fired the Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Development Bank.

He dismissed Mitko Simeonov and Velina Burska and proposes to be replaced by Vasil Shtonov and Valentin Mihov.

Simeonov and Burska were called to appear at the Ministry of Economy today to be heard by the caretaker minister about their activities as members of the BDB's supervision. In a letter they informed him quoting that "they will not participate in this circus." Only the former chairman of the supervisory board, Stamen Yanev, who is the current head of the Investment Agency, gave answers for his activity.

He explained that in practice the audit committee of the financial institution did not function and did not exercise control over the granted loans. There were also problems in communication between the Management Board and the Supervisory Board.

"The audit committee was very rarely approached, there was no communication during my entire stay," Stamen Yanev told the hearing.

"I want to give maximum transparency to my decision to get rid of the two members of the Supervisory Board of BDB Mitko Simeonov and Velina Burska. It was very important to hear their point of view, but they did not come to meet me. The problem I see in this bank is the huge concentration of funds that went to the top 20 customers, as in the top 8 it is close to a billion. The funds of this bank should be immediately directed to small and medium-sized businesses, because they need liquidity. I recommend the appointment of two new members of the supervisory board, independent and with experience, who will act with great transparency," said the Minister of Economy Kiril Petkov.

He added that there will be a limit that the loan for each individual company cannot exceed 5 million BGN.

"This will be the absolute limit. In this way we guarantee that this bank will not change its activity and will not pretend to a commercial bank. It will be fulfilling its real tasks," added Kiril Petkov.

He announced that regarding these 8 big loans, he has invited each of these companies for talks tomorrow. So far, only the Navigation Maritime Bulgare has responded to the invitation.

"To make it clear how their business plan is developing, I hope they will respond. The audit committee is already in the bank," said Minister Kiril Petkov.