The most influential grouping in Bulgaria was the one called "the team", the former head of the National Customs Agency, Emil Dimitrov told the morning show of private broadcaster bTV on September 14.

This grouping already owned a bank, and air carrier company and a number of other legitimate large-scale business, he said. But it had little in common with the notorious SIK and VIS groupings, which became a symbol of the organised crime in Bulgaria in 1990s. "Its business is a legitimate one," Dimitrov said without explicitly identifying the grouping and without going into further details on who stood behind it.

According to the website of Transport Ministry, there are twelve registered air carriers in Bulgaria. One of them is a company that fits the profile presented by Dimitrov - Hemus Air, owned by industrial conglomerate Chimimport, which in return is owned by the Varna-based industrial group TIM.

Dimitrov's words on economic groupings and their influence on the state administration was confirmed by Vanyo Tanov, the current head of Customs Agency.

He told bTV that the Customs Agency has been ruled by groupings in the past 20 years. These groupings had been developing their activities with the help оf high-ranked politicians, he said.

The groupings worked on schemes developed by people with good expertise and knowledge of the way the system worked. Such people made it possible for groupings to exploit the loopholes in legislation and to lobby for amendments to laws, he said.

"I can't name people from these groupings because my position doesn't allow me and it is not my job to do so," Tanov said.

His goals as head of the agency was not to change the personnel in the system, but rather introduce structural changes that could guarantee success in the agency's work such as the collection of more excises duties. One such step was to close down the customs in the the town of Vidin, on the border with Romania, he said.

Tanov said that he had prepared a list with legislative changes. "In the current customs legislation there are endless opportunities for going around the rules," he said. The strengthening of the control over imported goods alone could bring 700 million leva more to the state Budget compared to 2008, he said, including 200 million leva from companies dealing with the production and sale of alcohol drinks.

"I will not take the route of meeting alcohol business bosses and negotiate a deal with them," he said. "Rules will apply to everyone" Tanov said.