Hristo Drumev: Ivo Prokopiev wants to privatise the National Palace of Culture as he did Kaolin

“The owner of Economedia Ivo Prokopiev has tried three times to privatise the National Palace of Culture (NDK) for a mere song as he did with Kaolin – Razgrad, which he bought for only $700,000 although a Belgian company had offered to pay BGN 49 mln for the enterprise,” the former head of NDK Hristo Drumev said on BNR yesterday. On May 4, Drumev was dismissed without previous notification after NDK was transformed into a public limited company (PLC) via a decision of the Council of Ministers.

Drumev called Prokopiev “Simeon Djankov’s mentor” and said that the Finance Minister was following Prokopiev’s order that people close to Economedia should work in all the ministries. According to Drumev, the reaction to his dismissal from the Capital and Dnevnik newspapers was not accidental. “These are the dirtiest newspapers with the “commissioned articles they publish,” said the former director of NDK.

Drumev reminded that, since 1991, the State has not assisted NDK in any way. He stated that everything that could bring proceeds to NDK – the Universiada hall, the retail stores in the underpass, the underground parking lot with 920 places, the fine restaurant, the English garden – all had been taken away from NDK and immediately sold without holding any tenders.

Minister of Culture Vezhdi Rashidov confirmed that a year and a half ago there were suspicions that some circles wanted to privatise NDK and turn it into a mall. An inspection was ordered then in order to establish whose property it was.

Notary documents were found then at the Sofia District Administration showing that the building was under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture. Asked why NDK was not immediately transferred under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, Rashidov explained that the Finance Minister wanted to conduct an overall audit of NDK’s management over the last 7-8 years. “The management of NDK will afterwards be entrusted to our ministry,” stated Rashidov. He described the selling of various parts of NDK piecemeal and the current state of infrastructure around the building as “an absolute offence”.

“A financial audit of NDK for a 3-year period is going on - an analysis of its proceeds and expenses, an inspection of the implementation of the regulations for assigning public procurement orders and an inspection of the management of assets,” Temenuzhka Petkova, Director of the State Financial Inspection Agency, told BNR. Petkova specified that the inspection covers the 2008-2010 period.

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