Several decisions made by the Sofia City Council on June 8 caused serious controversy between the politically bound council and Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov.

The councillors decided to hike the price of the fares for the public transport in Bulgaria’s capital from July 1, from the current 0.50 leva for a single trip to 0.70 leva. If bought from the drivers of the vehicles – buses, tramways or trolley buses – the tickets will cost 0.80 leva.

Travellers without tickets will be fined seven leva, instead of the current five leva.

The city council reasoned the hike with the rising fuel prices and with the reduced Sofia public transport budget for 2006.

But a more controversial decision of the council was made on two of the hottest topics for Sofia municipality in the recent months and years – Municipal Bank and the real-estate companies owned by the municipality.

Sofia City Council decided to move for a complete privatisation of all realtors, including Galateya (which operates leisure and sports facilities), Sportna Sofia (also an owner of sports facilities) and Sofiiski Imoti (which handles some of the most expensive properties in Sofia). The latter has often been a bone of contention for the political forces participating in the city council and has caused much bickering with previous mayors.

Two other companies, Geografski Informatsionni Sistemi and Sofinvest, which keep the archive of the Sofia underground and engineering infrastructure, will also go up for sale.

The councilors decided to vote for the capital hike of Municipal Bank by up to 20 million leva.

Sofia municipality holds 67 per cent of the bank, while local businessman Hristo Kovachki, via 11 related companies, controls a blocking 26 per cent.

The municipality lost control over the bank a year ago when some municipal companies sold their shares to Kovachki behind the city council’s back.

As a results of its June 9 decision, the council will eventually lose even the 67 per cent share, as after the capital hike, Kovachki will be able to acquire a more serious stake in the bank.

Sofia City Council decided in late 2004 to privatise its majority stake in Municipal Bank. Later, bank supervisory board chair Lyubomir Pavlov and executive director Vassil Piralkov were investigated in connection with what was claimed to be a secret transfer of municipality-owned shares to private entities. The court, however, found Pavlov and Piralkov not guilty.

Mayor Borissov was outraged by the decisions for the property companies and Municipal Bank and called the council sitting a “circus”.

“This shows that Sofia City Council has a well-built system for swindling the tastiest property,” Borissov said.

He said he would contest the decisions, finding them true robbery.