The most common reason given by some of the 195 state officials caught by National Audit Office (NAO) with discrepancies in their income tax declarations was vaguenesses in the law and technical mistakes. As reported by sofiaecho.com, NAO head Valeri Dimitrov told a January 23 news conference that 195 public officials including 19 members of parliament, 14 deputy ministers, 33 judges, 19 prosecutors and 50 mayors and deputy mayors, failed to properly declare their incomes for 2006.

In most cases, the state officials failed to declare income from their participation in the management of both state-owned and private companies, real estate ownership and motor vehicle ownership.

Such was the case of two deputy ministers, Yordan Dimov, Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy and Kiril Ananiev, Deputy Minister of Finance.

Dimov did not declare an income of 104 000 leva, which he received from his participation in the management of state-owned companies.

Dimov told Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) that the discrepancies were the result of a “technical mistake”. “I filled in my tax declaration the way it should be and have paid all my taxes to the state. I have sent a copy of my tax declaration to NAO for the purpose,” Dimov said.

The same reaction came from Ananiev who, NAO says, failed to declare 74 000 leva. “I have been part of the management of these state-owned companies for years. I thought one should declare incomes from new sources and this was why I didn't declare the money,” Ananiev told BNR. He said that although he did not declare the money, he had paid his taxes to the state.

Deputy Minister of Regional Development Dimcho Mihalevski blamed one of his assistants for not declaring close to 34 000 leva. “It appears that h  omitted to include the data in the relevant sections of the tax declaration,” Mihalevski told BNR.

The other deputy ministers on the NAO's list ascribed the discrepancies to misunderstanding parts of the tax declaration forms. Deputy Interior Minister Kamen Penkov failed to declare the fact that he bought shares from five companies owned by his wife. The Interior Ministry said the mistake had been corrected immediately.

Some of the most interesting names of MPs on NAO's list are those of right-wing MPs Lyuben Dilov, Dimitar Abadjiev, an MEP, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Filip Dimitrov.

Dilov was the only one to admit his mistake of failing to declare 10 862 leva.

Abadjiev failed to declare the sale of a 251sq m apartment in Varna. “It was owned by my wife. However at the time we were in effect separated and that was why I did not include it in the tax form. Today neither of us owns the apartment,” he told reporters in Parliament. Dimitrov told reporters that NAO had got it wrong. “The money came from a project which I started in 2006 and which continued in 2007 so it was not over in 2006,” he told reporters.

All the others state officials questioned by reporters gave similar explanations.