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The Minister of Transport Hristo Alexiev at the Locomotive Depot in Sofia.
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I have ordered BDZ to impose penalties, said Hristo Alexiev
I sent the two audit reports on BDZ’s contracts for the repair of railcars and wagons with Alstom and the Dryanovo plant to the Prosecutor’s Office. This was stated by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Hristo Alexiev during an inspection at the Sofia Locomotive Depot.
The Minister stated once again that the overhaul of the trains was not carried out according to the requirements at all, and what is presented as completed is absolutely of poor quality.
“On October 4, I attended the introduction of the first train for major repairs. According to the contract and the accepted schedule, this repair had to be completed by December 4. I gave a respite and now I’m coming again to see what’s done. I am extremely disappointed – two months later I find out that the repairs have not been completed even by 50%. ” I have ordered BDZ to impose penalties and I will check whether it has been implemented, the minister said.
According to him, the contractor Alstom performs mainly technical support, which raises suspicions about the draining of significant funds. Minister Alexiev explained that the entire contract is for BGN 137 million, of which BGN 100 million are for current maintenance. “In this way, the contractor does not carry out any major repairs, given that these trains have a very long run,” said Alexiev.
Because of all these violations and many indicators of fraud that harm the state, the contract with Alstom was given to the prosecutor’s office in my official letter, said the caretaker minister.
“Due to suspicions of forgery and fraud, the other contract signed with the Dryanovo plant for the repair of 15 passenger cars was also sent to the prosecutor’s office,” Alexiev said. According to the audit, it was not clear how the price for repairing a wagon was determined, which is very high, the repair was assigned without procedure and without documentation.
“The damage to the state is very serious. “Many violations have been found, as well as falsification of documents and there is not even a preliminary offer,” he said. The minister said the price was totally inflated with an attempt to fabricate documents with old dates to cover up what they had done as repairs.
“This contract is to be investigated by the prosecutor’s office on the basis of the specific facts and evidence that have been provided, and the responsibility of BDZ management will be sought, during which the contract was concluded,” Alexiev said.
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