Bulgaria, Former Energy Minister accused of causing financial damage due to Russian gas supply cut

Former Bulgarian Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov and two other individuals have been accused of causing damages in the amount of 45 million euros to public gas supplier Bulgargaz. According to his lawyer, he is being charged over the suspension of Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria in April 2022.

A statement from the Sofia Prosecution Office said that Nikolov has been charged with intentional mismanagement and malfeasance in office. Nikolov was the Minister of Energy in the coalition Government of Continue the Change.

Unofficially, the two other individual that are being charged are former Deputy Minister of Energy Daniel Nikolov and former CEO of Bulgargaz Lyudmil Yotsov.

According to Nikolov, the charges boil down to Bulgaria’s decision not to give in to the extortion by Gazprom and Russia, because the Government rejected demands for paying in rubles for gas supplies.

The Prosecution Office said that the three are held accountable for detriment caused to public gas supplier Bulgargaz amounting to 45 million euros. The pretrial case was opened on 8 August 8 2022, based on materials from the State Agency for National Security which contained enough data that an offence has been committed. The intentional mismanagement and malfeasance in  office threatened the performance of obligations of Bulgargaz as per its license for public supply of natural gas in Bulgaria for a period of 35 years.