Two veterinary hospitals in the Shumen region have already been sold, while the government announced that it is suspending transactions with state-owned properties that are no longer needed. A check on the website of the Agency for Public Enterprises and Control /APPK/ shows that at the end of July, the veterinary hospitals in the village of Todor Ikonomovo in Kaolin and in Dragoevo in Preslav were announced for electronic auctions.
Both properties are private state property and were announced for sale at auction by the regional governor Katya Ivanova. Both properties have already been sold.
According to the auction documentation, the veterinary hospital in the village of Todor Ikonomovo is a regulated land property with an area of 800 square meters and includes several buildings built on it – a massive building with a built-up area of 84 square meters, a massive extension with a built-up area of 39 square meters and a garage with a built-up area of 24 square meters.
The state ownership certificate for the property was issued on March 7, 2022. The tax assessment of the former veterinary hospital is 7,682 leva, but the announced starting bid price is 34,920 leva excluding VAT. The auction was held on July 31 and was attended by one candidate who bought the property with one step, said Katya Ivanova. According to the State Property Act, the auction is also held if there is only one participant. In this case, the candidate must offer one step of bidding above the starting price in order to be declared the winner of the auction.
The veterinary hospital in the village of Dragoevo was sold for twice as much, although according to those familiar with the matter, the property in the Kaolin village of Todor Ikonomovo is nicer. However, many candidates have come forward for the Dragoevo hospital, raising the price above 70 thousand leva, although the starting bid price is 9,270 leva excluding VAT.
The Dragoevo hospital is a land plot with an area of 3,323 sq m, in which there is a building with a built-up area of 119 sq m. The state ownership deed for the property was issued on December 8, 2022. The tax assessment of the hospital is 8,351 leva, and the auction was held on July 24.
The winning bidders are obliged to pay the price of the purchased properties, the taxes, fees and overhead expenses due to the accounts specified in an order of the regional governor within 14 days.
On August 6, the cabinet announced that it would ask parliament to approve the government’s program for the sale of state-owned properties that are no longer needed and declared that until this happens, there will be no deals. However, it turned out that some of the properties have already been sold, and auctions have been announced for others on the APPK website.
The scandal with the sale of state-owned properties erupted after the list of over 4,400 properties “with no longer needed” turned out to include border areas, a Roman amphitheater in the center of Sofia, and attractive terrain by the sea. Due to the public discontent that erupted, the government hid the list of properties and announced that it would ask parliament to approve their sale. “Due to malicious intent and a desire for another attack on the coalition government, the Council of Ministers decided to propose to the National Assembly to approve the Program,” the government announced on August 7.
Three days later, President Rumen Radev said that the sale of state property was preparing “the biggest robbery since the 1990s.”
“These are 4,400 state properties. It is no coincidence that they passed the changes to the State Property Act on the eve of the holidays. They will benefit the clientele of the new assembly, but will impoverish all Bulgarians, and nature will suffer. That is why I imposed a veto and I expect the deputies to make sense of it,” Radev said.
The scandalous amendments to the State Property Act were adopted by the majority in parliament on the last day before the deputies went on summer vacation. According to the opposition, the decision was made in the absence of a quorum.
