Bulgaria’s 2014 Winter Olympics bid initiative committee spent nearly one million leva presenting the country’s application, former sport minister and committee representative Vassil Ivanov said.

The sum was nearly three times higher than the initially planned 350 000 leva, Dnevnik newspaper reported.

Ivanov presented the figures during a committee meeting on June 27. According to initial calculations the committee’s over-expenditure reached 218 000 leva.

Belcho Goranov, representative of Bulgaria’s Olympic Committee said that the state agency for youth and sport promised to cover any over-expenditure, related to Bulgaria’s bid.

Before making any payments, the agency would calculate all expenditure, agency representative Efrem Efremov said. The independent auditing report would be ready by September 15.

Expenditure which was unreasonable would not be accepted, Efremov said. The state budget would cover all other spending made to promote Sofia’s application, said he.