For eight years, the same company has serviced the vehicles of the Gabrovo Municipality. During this time, the municipality has paid a little over 1.5 million BGN to the said company.
When it was established, the company was owned by Tsvetomir Mihov—the regional coordinator of GERB in Gabrovo—and his brother, who is a surgeon. Later, the management was transferred to Mihov’s wife.
The company that has successfully won all public contracts for the maintenance of municipal vehicles since 2015 is “Nim Trans Service.” It was founded on August 3, 2009. Tsvetomir Mihov and his brother Minko Mihov are listed as managers. Less than a month before the company was registered in the Commercial Register, Tsvetomir Mihov was elected as a Member of Parliament in the 41st National Assembly. Whether this is the reason that Mihov withdrew as a manager just ten days after being registered is unclear. After his removal as manager, this role remained with his brother—who specializes in thoracic surgery, a field that is rather distant from automobile repairs. However, this does not seem to hinder the company from being favored by the Gabrovo Municipality for maintaining its fleet. Today, Dr. Mihov is the manager of MBAL “Dr. Tota Venkova” in Gabrovo and is no longer involved in the management of “Nim Trans Service.”
Eight Years of Trust
“Nim Trans Service” is registered at 12 Boykata Street in Gabrovo. At the same address, another company with the identical name—“Nim Trans”—was registered on August 4, 2009. It was created the day after the first one, and Tsvetomir Mihov and his brother are once again listed as managers. “Nim Trans” is still managed by Tsvetomir Mihov, while “Nim Trans Service” is managed by his wife, Viktoria Mihova.
This is the company that the Gabrovo Municipality has chosen to take care of its vehicles for eight consecutive years, and subsequently “Nim Trans Service” also secured contracts for the supply of tires for the buses of “Municipal Passenger Transport” Gabrovo. This could be perceived as the care of a good steward, who does not allow anyone except the trusted mechanic to touch his cars. However, when public money is involved, and the figures amount to 1.5 million BGN of taxpayer money, such loyalty to a single auto service raises questions.
The story began in 2015
An important detail is that the name of Tsvetomir Mihov does not appear in any of the contracts with the Gabrovo Municipality. In the first contract, signed on July 13, 2015, for “Nim Trans Service,” it is Csanko Gutev who is listed as the manager and who signed the contract. This agreement has two separate sections.
The first section includes diagnostics of the condition of the vehicles of the Municipal Enterprise for Enhancement, repair work, tire changes, and the supply of spare parts at 10 percent below the prices declared by the importer or manufacturer. The contract price for diagnostics is 6 BGN including VAT. Repairing defective parts is priced at 30 BGN per man-hour, while changing tires costs 18 BGN. All prices are inclusive of VAT. The contract duration is 12 months or until the maximum financial limit of 75,800 BGN excluding VAT is reached. Hilda Tsvarkaleva, a GERB activist and municipal councilor from GERB in the Gabrovo Municipal Council during the mandate from 2011 to 2015, signed for this section and for the Municipal Enterprise for Enhancement.
The second section involves the same activities but pertains to the vehicles of the Gabrovo Municipality. The prices are different—diagnostics again cost 6 BGN including VAT, but the tire change is priced at 5 BGN per tire, and the replacement of spare parts is 18 BGN per hour.
There is also a maximum repair time specified—up to two working days for light repairs, up to five days for medium repairs, and up to ten working days for serious repairs, such as the removal of a major component, which is an example cited in the contract.
The maximum amount that mechanics can charge is 24,000 BGN excluding VAT. Upon completion of this contract, it was reported that the maximum amounts allocated for each of the separate sections had been disbursed.
And the price slowly begins to rise
In June 2016, “Nim Trans Service” secured a new contract for servicing the vehicles of the Gabrovo Municipality and the Municipal Enterprise for Enhancement. This contract was also for one year, but the financial terms changed—the ceiling for the vehicles of the Municipal Enterprise was set at 195,000 BGN, while for the municipality’s vehicles, it was 69,000 BGN. It is evident that this amount was not reached, as the total sums paid were lower—156,000 BGN for the municipal enterprise’s service, and 66,000 BGN for the municipality’s vehicles.
On July 21, 2017, following another public procurement process, a third consecutive contract was signed between the Gabrovo Municipality and “Nim Trans Service.” This agreement was extended to two years, which accounts for the significantly higher price stated in the contract. The total amount for the two sections was 372,000 BGN including VAT.
In May 2019, Gabrovo Municipality again placed its trust in “Nim Trans Service.” This public procurement was for only one section. The Municipal Enterprise for Enhancement was not included in the documents for this procurement; instead, it was specified that the service was for the vehicles of Gabrovo Municipality and subordinate budget administrators, implying that this included the vehicles of the Municipal Enterprise for Enhancement. The 2019 contract was also for two years, with a value of 360,000 BGN including VAT. Upon its settlement, the contracted amount fully aligned with the amount actually paid.
The fifth contract that Gabrovo Municipality signed with “Nim Trans Service” was in 2021. This one was for two years and had a value of 432,000 BGN.
All this information is publicly accessible in the Public Procurement Register. A check with the Commission for Protection of Competition reveals that there has been no appeal against the selection of “Nim Trans Service.” So, what is not right?
Questions and Doubts
In 2017, when the scandal involving nepotism in Haskovo (surrounding Delyan Dobrev) erupted, which became popularly known as “kume-gate,” the Gabrovo BSP presented its own version of “kume-gate” in Gabrovo. This scheme aimed to visually demonstrate the familial ties within the government and featured a photograph of Tsvetomir Mihov, with connections to the Municipal Passenger Transport of Gabrovo and the Gabrovo Utility Company listed beneath. In response, GERB held a press conference where Mihov personally announced, as quoted by “Darik-Gabrovo,” that he had recently acquired ownership of the company servicing the municipality’s vehicles, and that this was after the public contracts had already been won. The necessity for this public justification remains unclear.
An inquiry by “Za istinata” reveals that, at that time, Tsvetomir Mihov had been removed from the list of partners in “Nim Trans Service” since 2012, and, as previously established, he was also removed as a manager just ten days after the establishment of “Nim Trans Service.” In 2017, when Mihov claimed that he had recently acquired ownership of the company that was securing successive public contracts with the Gabrovo Municipality, he did not appear among the owners or managers. Could it be that he was mistaken?
A more logical explanation for such behavior might be the saying, “guilty people flee when not pursued,” suggesting that Mihov is the actual owner of “Nim Trans Service.”
Incidentally, it is a well-known secret in Gabrovo that Tsvetomir Mihov has business relations with the Gabrovo Municipality. There is no doubt that, as a long-standing MP and GERB activist, he has had—and continues to have—sufficient influence to ensure the favor of local authorities, who, by the way, receive nominations for each successive election with the approval of none other than Tsvetomir Mihov.
It is likely that the quality of service from “Nim Trans Service” is also up to par, considering that “Municipal Passenger Transport” has started to purchase all of its bus tires exclusively from this company. Perhaps it is merely a coincidence that GERB governs in Gabrovo and that Tsvetomir Mihov is the regional coordinator of the party. However, when a company faces no competition for eight consecutive years in securing a service contract and has also received 1.5 million BGN in public funds, it is only natural for questions to arise, and doubts about potential connections are equally justified.
