A deal involving state-owned property worth millions of euro is the latest controversy surround the legality of land swap deals in Bulgaria and how individuals can enrich themselves within the confines of the law.

On March 24 2008 Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said that lawyer Yavor Haitov, former deputy interior minister in Ivan Kostov's cabinet 1997-2001, had suddenly acquired 9.4 hectares of extremely valuable land on the Black Sea coast near Varna. The land is in the Trakata area leading down to the sea just next to Evksingrad state residence.

It covers an area that about 20 local fishermen have been using for the past two decades and even has a small port that residents only use for fishing and swimming. The market price of the land is one of the highest one along the entire Black Sea coast because of its proximity to Varna and quality infrastructure.

Until March 24 2009 it was a state property. However, thanks to the law on swap deals, Haitov and his wife managed to buy it. The deal was sealed a day before a moratorium on transactions of land and forests was scheduled to come into force following widespread public discontent over such deals in the past couple of years.

The law allows individuals to apply to swap a plot of land that they own with another plot of land owned by the state.

To acquire the coastal strip Haitov and his family offered the state a total of 48 hectares of land plots in different locations in Stara Planina mountain ridge. Under the deal approved by the State Forestry Agency (SFA) the price of the sea land is 28 leva a square metre, far below the market price. According the SFA, the deal benefited the state because it expanded its forestry fund.

Why the deal was approved just a day before the ban came into force remains unclear. Another open question is how much the state budget could have accrued if the land had been sold at market prices. According to experts, the price of the land could easily have reached millions of euro.

The central problem revolves around the law on swapping land. The area in question could not have been sold on a public tender but only replaced with some other land, as was the case with Haitov. Why the SFA considered Haitov's lands a good enough trade-off is another issue.

Haitov's land in Stara Planina has lower prices than the strip along the Black Sea. In addition, he offered land plots in different locations and managed to acquire a single plot of land that is suitable for construction with excellent infrastructure just metres away.

The main losers from the deal are local fishermen who are threatening to protest on March 28 2009. For years they have been using the area with their boats and barracks, forming a fishing village.

Varna residents know them well because they often sell fresh fish early in the morning. Unfortunately, the fishermen have no legal right to be there as they do not own the land. They simply started using it as a place to moor their boats. They failed in their bid to secure the legal right to stay there, BNT said.

Fifteen years ago fishermen formed an organisation called Trakata and applied to the state for the right to use the land based on their years there but were turned down because of a ban on such moves.

Now they may have to leave if Haitov orders them to do so.