Another investigation by former MEP Nikolay Barekov’s Anti-Corruption Front (ACF) has revealed an alleged corrupt scheme by Bulgarian oligarchy.

After an anti-corruption inquiry, the ACF team led by Barekov gathered a host of evidence against the daughter of Ivan Kostov, who allegedly privatized property worth over BGN 30 billion and enriched dozens of Bulgarian oligarchs.

Mina Kostova, nicknamed “the princess” , is alleged to have received assistance from politicians and ministers close to her father from 5 previous Bulgarian governments (3 of which were GERB), together with bankers and businessmen, to sell an entire building of the state energy company at an extremely inflated price.

The most scandalous allegation is that, according to information from the ACF, the building was sold without a public procurement process at an inflated price, given that the state energy company is in an actual state of bankruptcy. The building itself cost the state more than 5m euros.

“This million-euro deal hurts all honest Bulgarian taxpayers” Barekov told EU Reporter. “The main characters are painfully familiar. The same ones who fed the oligarchic-mafia dragon of corruption in our country” he said. “Oligarchs who got rich around Kostov’s privatization and took power behind the scenes in the last 20 years during the governments of the Triple Coalition and GERB.”

In recent years, Nikolay Barekov has established himself as a journalist and politician who fully investigates high-level corruption in Bulgaria. The former MEP and father of many children is again very popular in the country, with his investigations and civil actions against properties and offices of the Bulgarian oligarchs.

Barekov believes that the rule of the last 6 governments of parties such as UDF, NMSS, BSP and GERB are in fact a facade of the oligarchy and their abuses in the country.

Barekov specifically provided this investigation to EU Reporter because he says, “there is no trust in Bulgarian television”.

In the last few years Nikolay Barekov has been come under pressure several times by the oligarchy, with a number of court attempts being brought by them to stop his investigations.

A source confided to EU Reporter that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Interior are investigating threats of murder against Barekov, designed to intimidate him and to force Barekov and his family to emigrate from Bulgaria forever

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