Bogdan Bogdanov Appointed CEO of Bulgaria's VMZ Sopot Military Plant

Bogdan Bogdanov is the new CEO of Bulgaria's state-owned military plant VMZ Sopot and Todor Dichev has been appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of the company.

The top-level reshuffle was confirmed by Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski on Friday.

Lukarski, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio, did not specify whether the changes had been triggered by the explosions at the warehouse of the military plant in Iganovo.

He said, however, that inspections had uncovered mismanagement of the affairs of the military plant.

The four deputy CEOs of VMZ Sopot remain the same.

Ivan Stoenchev resigned from the post of CEO of the military plant earlier this week.

Lukarski vowed that an audit and an inventory of VMZ Sopot would be carried out and that the security of the military plant would be stepped up.

The investigation into the causes of the March 21 explosions at Iganovo-based site of VMZ Sopot continues.

The site has been cleaned up and the production process is to be restarted in a few days' time, according to Lukarski.

Bulgaria's Economy Minister assured Friday that the military plant would not be penalized after the 2-month production halt caused by the blasts as the contracts had been renegotiated.

He made clear that the losses for the state-owned military plant had been estimated at around BGN 3 M.