Lidia Santova Shouleva

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 01.11.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Corruption and scandals

• The Bulgartabac privatisation scandal. Economix.bg writes that Bulgartabac was the occasion of the scandal in which Ognyan Gerdzhikov was removed as Speaker of the National Assembly. The outlet retells an interview Shuleva gave to bTV: the government had a signed memorandum with British American Tobacco for 80% of the holding at a price of 200 million leva, and after a fax from Moscow about the interest of an unknown Russian company the deal turned; on 25 January 2005 the DPS declared it would not support the privatisation. The deal collapsed, she and Mehmed Dikme lost their posts, and Gerdzhikov was an "indirect victim" (our translation). The author of the article considers that the fax was not the decisive reason for the failure of the offer. BTA recalls that on 4 February Parliament removed him by 119 votes for and 114 against. Novinite links the scandal to her attempt to conclude a privatisation deal for the holding in breach of the strategy approved by Parliament, and in an earlier commentary calls the failure the cause of an unexpected and to some extent undeserved farewell. According to the Bulgarian Wikipedia, NDSV blocked parliamentary oversight and the opposition's calls for a debate under her pressure, and she "caused an enormous political scandal" (our translation). — Economix.bg, 07.02.2017, BTA, 04.02.2024, Novinite, 12.07.2013, Novinite, 21.02.2005, Wikipedia (bg)
• Acquitted in the case over the appointment of Pavel Pavlov. According to Novinite, the former deputy prime minister was charged with malfeasance in office: appointing Pavel Pavlov as head of the Information and Communication Services unit at the Economy Ministry without checking whether he had a security clearance for access to classified information. Pavlov was arrested at the end of 2006 on bribery charges. The trial was held behind closed doors at the request of the prosecution so that certain documents could be kept secret, and Shuleva calls it political repression. The Supreme Cassation Court fully acquitted her in a final ruling that upholds the acquittal by Sofia City Court for lack of evidence. — Novinite, 12.07.2013