The Varna District Court canceled the decree of the District Prosecutor's Office , with which the criminal proceedings against the former mayor Ivan Portnich for the failed pipe under Lake Varna were terminated, the press service of the institution announced, BTA reported.
The court did not agree with the facts accepted by the prosecution and came to a completely different conclusion, they specify from there.
According to the District Court, the prosecutor's office should carry out an additional investigation in the criminal proceedings against Portnich, for the fact that, after being notified twice, that there was a material violation in the implementation of a project for the construction of the transportation pipeline passing across Lake Varna, he made absolutely no claims against the builder of the facility in order to engage his warranty liability and thus caused substantial damage.
The damage is related to additional repair of the pipeline. Liability is sought and that in the event of an accident in 2016. as a result of the rupture of the pipe in the amount of 43-44 meters, due to the fact that the facility was laid on and not under the bottom, the Varna lake was allowed to be polluted. This has led to the disruption of the ecological balance in the ecosystem, the emergence of a real risk of loss of habitats of biological species and a general and comprehensive ecological change of the humidity of the water basin for a significant period of one year and two months, the court's announcement also states.
In order to rule, the District Court considered that the pre-trial proceedings had started in 2020, when Ivan Portnih, the then manager of the water supply company in Varna, representative of the company that provided consulting, design and engineering services in project, as well as one of the members of the State Reception Commission, established the suitability for use of the project "Transformation of a wastewater treatment plant in Varna district "Asparuhovo" in a pumping station and a conveying pipeline". Then the prosecutor's office filed a charge of document fraud on a particularly large scale, representing a particularly serious case.
The District Prosecutor's Office submitted to the court in December of last year an indictment for the pollution of Lake Varna by a sewage pipe.
On October 17 of this year, by decree, the supervising prosecutor terminated the criminal proceedings against Ivan Portnich, adds the press service of the court. An appeal has been filed against this decree by the Municipality of Varna, which requests the annulment of the prosecutor's act, as contrary to the law, since an incorrect final conclusion was made in a correctly clarified factual situation.
After assessing the evidence collected in the case, the panel of the Varna District Court considered that the complaint of the Municipality of Varna was well-founded.
The judicial act is subject to appeal or protest before the Varna Court of Appeal within 7 days.
BTA recalls that the Varna District Court returned to the prosecution the indictment for the pollution of Varna Lake twice – in February and June this year.