The BFS has a regular license issued irregularly, an inspection by the sports ministry showed

The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MMS) has today urgently checked the documentation on the license of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFS) after yesterday’s protest against the management of the Bulgarian football headquartersduring which there was serious tension, which led to numerous reprimands, political comments, to a request for the resignation of the Minister of the Interior, Kalin Stoyanov, and to the dismissal of his deputy, Stoyan Temelakiev.

The results show that on January 23, 2020, by order of the relevant minister at the time in question, Krasen Kralev, an indefinite license was issued to the Federal Security Servicereported the sports ministry.

The MMC also presents a chronology of the facts regarding the issue of the license of the football headquarters.

On October 28, 2019, an order was issued by Kralev appointing an inspection of the BFS financing contracts for the period 2015 – 2018. There is no time limit in the order for the inspection to be carried out. On January 20, 2020, the order was amended to change the composition of examiners.

On March 6, 2020, a report was prepared from an audit of the BFS’s financing for the period 2015 – 2018. Data from the inspection of 11 contracts for a total of BGN 5,642,000 have been released. On April 9, 2020, an addendum was added to the report, from which it is clear that The BFS must reimburse BGN 142,766 at the expense of the Ministry of Youth and Sports., as the amount is not recognized as appropriately spent under one of the contracts. On April 9, 2020, the ministry sent a letter to Mihail Kasabov, representative of the BFS, giving a 7-day deadline for refunding the amount. The letter states that if the specified deadline is not met, MMC will file a legal action for the recovery of the funds. On June 11, 2020, with a memorandum of Krasen Kralev, it is proposed to file a claim, as a result of which a lawsuit was filed against the Bulgarian Football Union.

On May 17, 2023 Vesela Lecheva, in her capacity as Minister of Youth and Sports, concluded an out-of-court settlement in the case, in which the BFS agreed to reimburse BGN 71,383 and the legal proceedings against the union were terminated.

The basis for the claim of the MMC is a contract dated February 12, 2015 between the BFS and the ministry, represented by the then minister Krasen Kralev, with which the Bulgarian Football Union was granted BGN 818,000 for the organization and holding of a European championship for juniors up to 17 years of age. However, the project on the basis of which this contract was concluded has disappeared from the Ministry of Youth and cannot be found. The amount was transferred in full with one payment order on February 19, 2015. Initially, the project was declared completed without objections, and the due amount of BGN 142,766 was established 5 years later.

The chronology shows that the BFS license was issued on January 23, 2020 as part of the ongoing inspection, which must establish whether one of the conditions for acquiring a license has been met – under Art. 20, item 3 of the Law on Physical Education and Sports – that the federation has no overdue debts to the Ministry of Sports. At the time of disclosure of these obligations at the end of the inspection in April 2020, the BFS already has a regular license. The MMS points out that the issuance of the license is expedited before the circumstances that would prevent it are disclosed.

“After that, a case was filed, which postponed the possible examination of irregularities for years. This circumstance for revocation of the license was valid until the conclusion of a court settlement between the BFS and the MMC during the time of Minister Vesela Lecheva,” the sports ministry also explains.