Bulgarian mayors get how-to booklet on honesty
(SOFIA) - Bulgaria's prime minister has issued graft-prone town mayors with a special instruction manual on how not to embezzle funds.
Officials would from now on be "banned" from making bribes, inflating quotations, and drawing up fictional contracts with non-existent suppliers, according to the booklet which was drawn up especially for them.
"Don't forget that eight million Bulgarians are waiting and have nothing to eat, while 13 billion leva (6.4 million euros) are placed at your disposal by the European Union," said Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, quoted by the Troud newspaper.
Borissov told mayors they must adhere strictly to the manual's guidance.
"Each of these instructions must be respected. Those who do not respect them will not deal with money," he warned on Thursday, adding that he was hardening his tone because some mayors "still think they can go on as before."
A Bulgarian parliament committee earlier this month said Sofia risked losing billions of euros of EU development funds because of a failure to submit well-budgeted, corruption-free projects for financing.
The European Union has allocated 15 billion euros in post-accession funds to new member Bulgaria for 2007-2013.
Text and Picture Copyright 2010 AFP. All other Copyright 2010 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.