Скандалът „Апартамент гейт” с евтините или непълно декларирани жилища на властта удря по ГЕРБ, като може да доведе до загуба на евроизборите, а освен това има риск и да провали опитите на премиера Бойко Борисов да убеди ЕС да прекрати мониторинга над съдебната система и борбата с организираната престъпност и корупцията.
Това се посочва в публикация на „Файненшъл Таймс”, посветен на основния политически сюжет у нас преди евровота, предаде бТВ.
В публикацията се посочва, че обществото е било „шокирано” от броя на политиците от ГЕРБ, замесени в скандала, както и от лукса на жилищата им. Изброени са оставките на правосъдния министър Цецка Цачева, зам.-председателя на ГЕРБ Цветан Цветанов и двамата зам.-министри, които „отричат да се извършили нещо нередно”, както и ситуацията с шефа на „Антикорупция” Пламен Георгиев, посъветван от премиера да излезе в дълъг отпуск по време на проверката на терасата му.
Не е пропусната и ролята в скандала на „Артекс”, в чиито луксозни жилищни сгради в елитни столични квартали живеят част от замесените и които междувременно се оказаха принудени да спрат предизвикалия спорове проекти „Златен век”.
Авторитетното издание отбелязва, че всички нередности са станали публично достояние, благодарение на Антикорупционния фонд, поредицата разследвания на bTV и публикации в „Биволъ”.
„Имиджът на ГЕРБ в Европа ще пострада, въпреки че вероятно правителството ще преживее тази криза. Този скандал няма лесно да бъде забравен – той докосва всеки българин. Хората могат да сравнят финансовите възможности директно с тези на лидерите, като така виждат колко огромна е пропастта”, коментира пред „Файненшъл Таймс” д-р Моис Файон от Центъра за изследване на демокрацията.
Оригиналът
Bulgaria’s ‘apartmentgate’ infuriates struggling citizens
Prominent politicians and state officials purchased luxury homes at knockdown prices
Kerin Hope in Athens and Martin Dimitrov in Sofia
An upmarket Sofia neighbourhood has become the focus of anti-corruption campaigners who are probing how a group of prominent Bulgarian politicians and state officials were able to purchase luxury apartments at knockdown prices. The scandal, dubbed “apartmentgate”, has infuriated ordinary Bulgarians who normally shrug off corruption as an inevitable part of life in the EU’s poorest member state. “If we’d revealed price-fixing in a public procurement project such as a highway, people wouldn’t have taken much notice,” says Nikolay Staykov, a co-founder of the Anti-Corruption Fund. “But middle-class Bulgarians struggling to pay a mortgage on a small city apartment are deeply resentful that politicians were able to buy luxury homes so cheaply.” The US-backed group was the first to expose details of properties acquired at a fraction of the market price by senior members of the ruling GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) party of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. The fund’s discoveries were published on its website last month and quickly went viral on social media. Tsetska Tsacheva, the justice minister, stepped down while GERB’s powerful deputy chairman Tsvetan Tsvetanov resigned his parliamentary seat, plunging the party into turmoil. Two deputy ministers also stepped down. All four had bought luxury apartments in the Iztok neighbourhood at cheap prices. The head of the state anti-corruption commission, Plamen Georgiev, who acquired an apartment in another wealthy Sofia neighbourhood, allegedly under-reported the size of his apartment to the tax authorities. He was told by the premier to take indefinite leave while his case was investigated. The four politicians and Mr Georgiev have all denied wrongdoing. Several senior officials including judges and a prosecutor and former ministers in GERB’s right-of-centre government were revealed by Bivol, another investigative group, and BTV, a private television channel, to have bought apartments below the market price. Bulgaria’s prosecutor-general has launched an official investigation into the purchases. All those involved in these allegations have also denied wrongdoing. Boyko Borisov’s approval rating has fallen to 28% © AFP The scandal threatens to scupper GERB’s chances of winning an outright victory in next month’s European parliamentary elections. Mr Borisov has distanced himself, saying he was “furious” over the property purchases. But his approval rating has fallen to 28 per cent according to Alfa, a Sofia pollster. The sheer number of GERB politicians involved and the luxury of their apartments have shocked the public. Property prices are a hot topic among Bulgaria’s new middle class as Sofia experiences a residential building boom driven by strong population growth and a strengthening economy. Moving out of their bleak Soviet-era apartment blocks that ring the city centre is a priority for many families. “From what we saw of these buildings on television, they were suitable for rich Middle Easterners . . . way beyond anything a Bulgarian professional could dream of,” said Dimitar, a software engineer.
Източник: The Financial Times
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