April 20, Tuesday

HOME SCENE
"Troud" reports that investigative proceedings have been instituted against National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Director Zheni Boumbarova-Nacheva, former deputy health minister Emil Raynov and Veladin Bitolski, member of the National Council of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and ex-prime minister Sergei Stanishev's chef de cabinet. Boumbarova-Nacheva is charged with abuse in office. Only two weeks after the removal of Bozhidar Nanev as health minister the two most important positions in the management of health care became vacant, "Dnevnik" notes under the headline "Health Care Beheaded." The "Standart News" leading story describes Boumbarova-Nacheva as "the BSP's Trojan horse in the NHIF."Nanev dragged down the new NHIF chief," "Novinar" writes. According to the "Novinar" item, Boumbarova-Nacheva unilaterally provided more money to some hospitals.Raynov is charged with trying to extort, together with Bitolski, over 17 million leva from Commercial League, a distributor of pharmaceuticals, "Troud" says. They asked to be paid 7 per cent of the company's turnover in 2005 and 2007. The deputy health minister in Stanishev's cabinet requested na record-high commission of 28 million leva, "Monitor" notes. In return, Raynov promised to use his influence so that Commercial League be awarded public contracts for procurement of medicines.Bitolski was the contact between Raynov and the businessmen he was racketeering.

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Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov has brought legal action challenging a deal for the majority stake in International Fair Plovdiv. The majority stake was acquired by Georgi Gergov. The State will also claim 1.4 million leva in dividends. "Monitor" and "Telegraf" give front-page prominence to the topic.

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The lobbyism bill is one of the priorities of Parliament, GERB Co-floor Leader Iskra Fidossova says in an interview for "Monitor."

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Education will be included in the list of activities which cannot be suspended during protests, "Sega" writes adding that this means curtaining teachers' right to protest.

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The budget must be urgently revised, former caretaker prime minister Stefan Sofiyanski is quoted as saying in "Novinar." Interviewed by Valeria Veleva of "Troud," Sofiyanski says that the bad heritage Stanishev has left becomes even worse due to the economic policy of the leading economists of GERB, the Union of Democratic Forces and Democrats for Strong Bulgaria - Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, Martin Dimitrov and Ivan
Kostov. "Having in mind the incumbents' economic policy, I cannot guarantee the cabinet will stay in office in the three years it is left," Sofiyanski says,.

ECONOMY

In the traditional sector of Bulgarian economy the toll manufacture companies are declaring their bankruptcy and selling out their assets, "Klassa" writes. Data cited by the Bulgarian Industrial Association show that the clothing industry, the leather and fur industry, the footwear industry and some sectors of the mechanical engineering industry are the most badly hit by the crisis and their recovery after the crisis is questionable. Experts say that the closure of enterprises processing materials supplied by clients will lead to change in the structure of exports. National Statistical Institute statistics show that until recently toll manufacturing accounted for over 20 per cent of Bulgarian exports.

HOME AFFAIRS AND JUSTICE

The names of persons connected to the Order, Lawfulness, Justice party (OLJ) and LIDER have surfaced in Operation Untouchables and Operation Octopus, "Monitor" says. This proves that certain people of the criminal world want to infiltrate this country's power structures, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on Monday. Some of the persons detained or questioned in the operations are "serious and lavish donors of a
certain political organization", Tsvetanov told bTV. Two of the detainees in Operation Untouchables were sponsors of the LIDER party which has energy boss Hristo Kovachki behind it. There are immediate witnesses of the contacts of OLJ leader Yani Yanev and the mastermind of the Octopus, "Monitor" writes.

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"24 Chassa says that high-positioned customs officers are both hiding end enjoying their stay in Greece. A former customs chief has been living for month in a house of his own in the luxury resort of Asprovalta. He went to Greece after Operation Octopus. Other senior customs employees also have houses there, being registered in the name of their wives, girl friends or parents. Officially, these customs officers do not possess any immovable property. Allegedly, they have secret bank accounts in Greece. Figures of the Bulgarian criminal underground, some of them now deceased, others behind bars, have villas in Asprovalta, too.

FOREIGN POLICY

"Missiles Aiming at Bulgaria? False Reports," "24 Chassa" writes above an interview with Iran Ambassador to Bulgaria Gholam Reza Bagheri. "Iran has not attacked a single country and does not seek a war with anybody. And Bulgaria is a country which we respect and for which we have friendly feelings. And not from yesterday but for 115 years. This thing about the missiles is part of a psychological war waged against us." In the ambassador's words, the talk about the anti-missile shield is a way of diverting attention from nuclear disarmament which is much more important.

SOCIETY

The Iceland volcano does not threaten Bulgaria directly although its activity has created problems, Senior Researcher Radoslav Nakov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Geology with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, says in "Troud." The closest place of possible volcano activity is the island of Crete
curve.
BTA