Политика

A peculiar fourth round of the mayoral elections began in Velingrad on 11 June. 11 people submitted to the Municipal Election Commission (OIC) with a copy to the Central Election Commission for the local elections (CECMI) a signal that the mayor of the municipality Fidel Beev has not fulfilled the requirements of the law and has not left the company "Brothers Beevi".
At two of its meetings on June 11 and 12, the OIC examined a certificate issued by the Sofia District Court (SOC) dated June 2, 2004. The court certifies that as of this date, the Bee Brothers Collective, with its seat and registered address, d. Kostenets, ul. Gurguljak 8 A, has not been terminated and is not in liquidation proceedings. The certificate reflects the current status received after all changes made to the lot and according to it the company is managed by the partners Fidel Beev and Krasimir Beev. According to Art. 41 of the Local Administration and Local Government Act "mayors of municipalities... may not carry out commercial activities within the meaning of the Commerce Act, be managers or participate in supervisory, management and control bodies of commercial companies and cooperatives for the duration of their term of office. " In violation of prohibitions under art. 41 the mayor's powers shall be terminated by a decision of the Municipal Election Commission, taken by 2/3 of the votes of those present.
The request submitted to the OIC and CECMI was accompanied by a certificate from the Pazardzhik District Court that Mr. Fidel Beev continues to be a partner in Beev and Beev Ltd. By decision of 25 May 2004. F. Beev was expunged as the manager of this firm. The managers of Beev and Beev are Bonka Beeva and Krasimir Beev, and the court has registered a distraint on the latter's shares in two executive cases from March and April 2004.
In order to prove their thesis that the two companies in question carry out active transactions with municipal companies, the 11 authors of the request have applied 7 invoices for commercial transactions between Beev and Beev and the municipal company Stroycom and 2 invoices for the same between SD Brothers Beevi and Stroycom. The invoices have dates from the period March - April 2004, when Mr. Fidel Beev has already taken office as mayor of the municipality.
The request was submitted with the signatures of: Tanya Goncheva, Alexander Daskalov, Tsvetan Dafov, Atanaska Hrischeva, Tsvetan Tselev, Kostadin Belukhov, Georgi Nikolov, Dimitar Kasapski, Ivan Slavchev, Maria Geneva, Nadezhda Klyuchkova. On it, the Municipal Election Commission met on 11 and 12 June, hearing also the lawyer Vasil Ushev, who had verbally explained that he had made steps before the SOC for the exit of Fidel Beev as manager of the Beevi Brothers SD. The OIC decided to honor his request to give a time limit for the submission of written evidence to that effect. The deadline is June 17 inclusive, after which the OIC will hold a new meeting.
The OIC accepts that there is a violation of the LMSMA because the certificate from the Sofia District Court is definite, said after the meeting on June 12, the chairwoman of the OIC, Mrs. Ivanka Stancheva. The law stipulates that the mayor cannot be the manager of a firm "for the duration of his term" (the term of office of Mr. F. Beev as mayor started in late January 2004). Although the majority of the members of the OIC were of the opinion that the law was violated, a decision was made to postpone it, as the issue is of extreme importance also because of the absence of the lawyer in the OIC Petar Chryschev.
In communicating the decision, Mayor Fidel Beev said that the OIC should have notified them in advance and would have provided evidence. On the part of the authors of the request, Alexander Daskalov argued that every mayor should observe the law and that the partnership in a collecting society is purely personal and is a commercial activity that intertwines personal and municipal interests.
After the hearing, the journalists present persistently asked lawyer C. Ushev when documents were submitted to the SOS for the release of F. Beev as a manager from the Beevi Brothers SD. Mr. Ushev failed to give a specific answer, he hesitated between March and April and said that he would submit written documents by June 17.
The OIC once again faces a difficult and extremely responsible decision. It remains to be seen whether its 11 members will live up to their responsibilities before the law.
Elena Baeva