Bulgarian lawmakers have called for tighter control over wage expenditures in the state administration, and will begin tackling the issue by slashing the salary of the chair of the Commission for Establishing of Property Acquired from Criminal Activity, Stoyan Kushlev.

Members of the Parliament (MPs) put forth an amendment bill that would fix the salary the commission members would receive, rather than allow the commission set the figure itself, private channel bTV reported on January 30 2007.

When the commission was set up in 2006, Kushlev sparked a controversy by fixing his monthly salary at 7000 leva.

The MPs' initial proposal to set the remuneration of the commission's members at 2.5 times the average salary in the public sector, with the chairman of the commission paid an additional 30%, which would have, at the current public sector wages, cut Kushlev's salary to a monthly 1800 leva.

The final amendment passed by MPs was to peg the wages of the commission members to 85% of the Parliament Speaker's salary, with the chair of the commission receiving 90%, whichwould give Kushlev a monthly salary of 2200 leva.

Some MPs have already asked for wider review, which should look at the way salaries in the whole state administration system were decided and how efficient the state institutions were in reality.

Uncontrolled spending on wages is one of the chief reasons why politicians have a reputation for self-serving in the country and also one of the chief reasons for voters to lose trust in Parliament as well, Socialist MP Yanaki Stoilov said, as quoted by bTV.