Financial damages from public procurements corruption last year have been estimated at 1.2 bln leva, Ognyan Shentov, chairman of the managing board of the Center for Study of Democracy, said at a round table “Public Procurements Corruption: Risks and Combating. Development of Public-Private Partnership”.

Shentov said losses in the sector commensurate with the expected annual payments from the European funds in the next 2-3 years. According to him there are currently two mechanisms for redistribution of big public funds through corruption practices – management of state-owned property and public procurements.

Shentov, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio, noted that losses from exchange of state-owned property amounted to some 1 bln leva last year. Data of the Center for Study of Democracy shows that in 2002 one of every two companies admitted having paid bribes to take part in a public procurement auction, and in 2007 the number of such cases was five times lower.

At the same time however Bulgarian business feels the level of corruption remains high. Over 80% of the candidates have encountered vicious procedures, and 60% of local businessmen think corruption is widespread.