Former energy minister and former head of "Bulgargaz" accused of buying gas from Gazprom through intermediaries

Former Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov and one of his deputies - Danail Nikolov, as well as the former head of “Bulgargaz” in the Petkov cabinet, Lyudmil Yotsov, are accused of causing damage to the public gas supplier. The three received their indictments this morning, February 8, at the National Investigative Service (NIS), BNT has learned from sources.

Alexander Nikolov was summoned for questioning at the National Investigation Service before noon. On his way out of the investigation service building, he said that he had been charged, but did not comment on what.

Nikolov stressed that this was a consequence of his refusal to bend to pressure from Gazprom and his conscience was clean.

"The public interest of all citizens was fully respected in the period from December 2021 to August 2, 2022," he said.

Lawyer Ina Lulcheva, who is defending Nikolov, declined to comment on details of the charges against him.

The charges against the three are related to the purchase of gas for Bulgargaz' needs from intermediaries, including the MET Energy company, the manager of which was Lyudmil Yotsov shortly before Kiril Petkov's government appointed him head of the state-owned gas company.

The investigation, in which the three are accused, was launched last summer by the State Agency for National Security (SANS). Then it became clear that after the suspension of Gazprom's supplies to Bulgaria at the end of April, Bulgaria was again buying Russian gas, but this time through intermediaries, which made the price of gas more expensive by about 30%.

It was found that in May 2022, nearly half of the gas that Bulgaria consumed was supplied by the private company MET Energy.

Counter-intelligence agents and investigators believe that former energy minister Alexander Nikolov, his deputy Danail Nikolov and Bulgargaz chief Lyudmil Yotsov deliberately left the country without alternative supplies so they could sign contracts with the private company, which had previously agreed to buy additional quantities of gas from Gazprom. Thus, it turns out that in the first months after the gas supply from Russia to Bulgaria was stopped, our country bought Russian gas again, but through an intermediary, from which Bulgargaz suffered losses of tens of millions of leva.

Sofia City Prosecutor's Office's charges against a former minister of the Petkov government, a former deputy minister and the former head of public gas supplier Bulgargaz come just three days after Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev's visit to the United States.

One of the topics that Geshev discussed in Washington was precisely the growing malign Russian influence over Bulgaria since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine.

According to the Chief Prosecutor, Russian pressure is no longer expressed only through classic espionage, but through influence on the political process in the country, the media, and through economic mechanisms.