The renewed consolidation company made changes in VMZ and “Kintex” – Bulgaria
After a week ago, the executive director of the State Consolidation Company (SCC) and the Minister of Economy exchanged reprimands, now their relations are entering a new phase. The DCC announces urgent actions for entrepreneurs to rehabilitate the state-owned companies that are part of it.
They were taken at a meeting of the board of directors, which as of this week, with the decision of the office of Minister Nikola Stoyanov, has been increased by four out of seven members. This is precisely the subject of an argument with the executive director of DCC Smilyana Nitova.
As of today, she herself is no longer in office, but remains on the board of directors. It is occupied by lawyer Ventsislav Dimitrov, who is among the new additions to the board of directors.
Among the decisions of the board of directors is that the process of replacing the executive director of the Scientific Research Technological Institute (NITI) – Kazanlak, Delyan Nachev, stops. He has 30 years of experience in the sector, and the procedure was started under the leadership of the previous minister, Cornelia Ninova.
The Council of the DCC in its new composition found that VMZ – Sopot also has a 3-member board of directors instead of the minimum five-member board required by law. That is why Ivaylo Kanev, Nikolay Nikolov, Toma Tsilev and Ivan Angelov are available for registration as new members.
According to his official business card, Kanev has experience in financial planning and execution, including being a budgeting and pricing manager at the Chrysler headquarters in Canada. Nikolay Nikolov is a lawyer with more than 30 years of experience. In the past, Ivan Angelov was the representative of Bulgaria in the NATO Support and Supply Agency, he has experience in the military industry sector. Toma Tsilev also has a legal education and experience in various countries.
Ivan Stoenchev is also returning to the leadership of VMZ. The main motive is the entry into the management of the plant of a person who knows the activity in detail, has the necessary experience and can return high levels of production in the shortest possible time. Stoenchev took over the leadership of VMZ at the beginning of 2022, and despite his release in June, a profit of BGN 48 million was achieved for the half-year, the DCC motivated its decision.
The decision also aims to calm growing discontent among the unions, who say productivity is declining and the arms factory is lagging behind in the fulfillment of contracts. In DCC, there are many signals and expressed concerns about the way the company is managed. According to the order of Minister Nikola Stoyanov, the public enterprises in the system of the Ministry of Economy and Industry should stop the payments, which do not directly depend on their activity, until they become familiar with their real situation. Despite this, with shortened deadlines, transfers of over BGN 3 million for construction activities were made in a week, DCC claims.
At the same time, there are signals of deliberate inflation of the administrative staff, reassignment of people to managerial positions in order to avoid the obligations under the law probationary period and of applying clauses for huge benefits upon dismissal, against the interests of the company.
The Board of Directors has also decided to make changes in the management of “Kintex” EAD. Last week, it became known that investigators and representatives of the services entered the company following reports of payments of approximately BGN 800,000 to an offshore company. All facts and circumstances are yet to be clarified, but in order to make an objective analysis of its application, a decision was made to include new experts in the guide, explained by the DCC.
The only member of the board of directors who voted against the payment of the sums remains in the management of “Kintex”. This is Plamen Peshev, who is a long-time employee of the company with over 30 years of experience. Boris Yanchev, Milen Nikolov, Stanislava Georgieva and Nikolay Stanchev have been proposed as new members.
Milen Nikolov is an auditor who held various positions in the Audit Chamber. Stanislava Georgieva is a qualified lawyer with over 15 years of experience. Boris Yanchev, who has experience in foreign trade, bilateral and multilateral trade relations, will strengthen the main activity of “Kintex” in negotiations with foreign partners, according to the DCC. According to his official visit, Nikolay Stanchev has expertise in the management of production processes and has many years of experience in various enterprises and services related to the military-industrial complex of Bulgaria.