Inspectors from the Executive Agency "Automobile Administration" (SAI) have extorted owners of checkpoints and transport companies with a fee "peace of mind", Monitor writes.
The civil servants collected BGN 2.50 from each car that passed a technical inspection. BGN 200 per truck was the tariff for companies engaged in freight transport. If the money was not given, some inspectors threatened to revoke licenses.
"I can crush you, you know, there are serious people behind me - is one of the remarks that intimidated small businessmen. Some who were told to racketeer them gave signals years ago, but there were no real consequences, people familiar with the schemes in the State Automobile Inspectorate told Monitor.
On Tuesday, during an action of the Ministry of Interior and agents from SANS, 12 employees of the Automobile Administration were detained together with its chief Valentin Bozhkov. However, he was only charged with unintentional homelessness for the period 2012-2013 and was released with the lightest measure of restraint "subscription". Five other officials who were charged have been released under the same measure. For now, Bozhkov cannot be linked to the corruption schemes that have allegedly existed for years in the Automobile Administration, although in the transport industry some unofficially call him the "license boy."
In front of Monitor, businessmen, who requested anonymity, admitted that the racketeering against them had not stopped for years, although the new management of the agency came up with the idea to fight corruption. People in the transport industry also claim that there was an umbrella over the companies that paid, while their competitors were checked as a matter of priority.
The owners of technical inspection points agreed with the "fee" when it was within the permissible limits. The inspections against her were made fictitiously, without ever checking whether the car really has proper brakes, for example.
"I drove a car that not only did not enter the examination hall, but also had expired Civil Liability Insurance. This happened 3 years ago in one of the checkpoints in Sofia. The difference now is that the car has to pass the hall due to the presence of cameras, but in reality its technical condition is still not checked, "a taxi driver told Monitor.
However, the chiefs of checkpoints did not want to complain to the police and even denied that they were giving money because it did not really hinder their business. Some of the SAI chiefs in the country claimed that their tariffs were falling "from above". In the countryside, when businessmen began to pull with the payment of the fee, inspectors from a neighboring town came and checked them.
Source: novini.bg