Former Minister of Energy and former head of Bulgargaz charged with malfeasance in office

Former Energy Minister Alexander Nikolov and one of his deputies, Danail Nikolov, as well as former head of Bulgargaz Lyudmil Yotsov have been charged with causing damage to the state gas supplier to the tune of tens of millions of euros. According to the prosecution, they purchased gas for the needs of Bulgargaz from intermediaries, including MET Energy.

After the suspension of gas supplies from Gazprom to Bulgaria in April last year, Bulgaria was allegedly buying Russian gas again, but this time via intermediaries, which increased the price of gas by 30%. It was established that in May 2022, nearly half of the gas consumed by the country was supplied by the private company MET Energy. /BGNES