Bulgaria energy minister resigns over CEZ deal
Czech power utility CEZ has approved Inercom’s bid to take over an energy distributor that provides electricity to over 3 million people in northwestern Bulgaria, an energy trader and several renewable energy assets.
SOFIA: Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova resigned on Friday over her links to the owners of Inercom, a small company slated to buy CEZ’s assets in Bulgaria as the government sought to quell concerns it had influenced the deal.
Czech power utility CEZ has approved Inercom’s bid to take over an energy distributor that provides electricity to over 3 million people in northwestern Bulgaria, an energy trader and several renewable energy assets.
The deal, estimated at about 320 million euros ($394 million), raised concerns among lawmakers across political parties about the ability of the little-known company to finance and operate strategic power assets.
Electricity costs are politically sensitive in the Balkan country of 7.1 million people, which also ranks as the most corrupt European Union member state, according to Transparency International.
Following media reports that Petkova has been a witness at the wedding of the owners of Inercom, she confirmed she had known them for some 20 years, but denied any family connections with them or any wrongdoing.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said he would accept Petkova’s resignation to assuage any doubts that his government had any say in the deal.
“I want to confirm … (the government) had not influenced that deal in any way,” he said.
The deal is pending regulatory approvals and Borisov said the country’s energy, financial and anti-trust regulator, as well as the intelligence services, will look closely into the deal, including the origin of the funds for the transaction.
The head of the parliament energy commission Delyan Dobrev questioned the ability of Inercom, which operates several small solar energy installations, to manage an energy business with an annual revenue of about 1.8 billion levs ($1.13 billion).
“Initially it sounded like fake news to me,” Dobrev told NOVA television. “How a company that I have not heard of until yesterday will take over one third of the power distribution network in Bulgaria?” he said.
The opposition Socialists criticised the deal, urging the government and the president to take a stand.
Volen Siderov, one of the leaders of the government’s junior coalition partner, urged the prosecutors and anti-corruption authorities to scrutinise the deal.
($1 = 1.5880 leva) ($1 = 0.8130 euros)
Source: Reuters
