State Fund Agriculture Director Resigns after Minister's Ultimatum

Sofia, February 1 (BTA) - The Executive Director of State Fund Agriculture (SFA), Roumen Porozhanov, tendered his resignation Wednesday after Agriculture Minister Hristo Bozoukov gave him an hour's ultimatum to do so. The resignation was announced by SFA shortly after the Ministry said in a statement that it is needed to ensure an objective audit at SFA.

The Agriculture Ministry also said that mistrust has built in society against the SFA leadership and multiple complaints have come against it from beneficiaries in EU-supported programmes.

Another reason the Agriculture Ministry to demand the resignation is that the court has recently overturned a ministerial order firing the previous SFA director Miroslav Nikolov and his deputy Violeta Alexandrova. They were sacked in July 2014 but challenged the dismissal in court and the court found it to be unlawful.