Bulgaria's Anti-Trust Body Rejects Toplivo-2's appeal of ICGB's tendering process
Bulgaria's competition regulator said it has rejected the appeal filed by local company Toplivo-2 against its disqualification from the tender for supply of line pipes for the Bulgaria-Greece gas link project. The appeal was rejected on June 6 as the anti-trust body found no evidence that Toplivo-2 had been illegitimately removed from the selection procedure or that the offer of the winner, Corinth Pipeworks Industry, lacked some important documentation, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) said in its decision published on Tuesday.In May, CPC allowed ICGB - the company developing the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria project, to sign a contract with Corinth Pipeworks Industry despite the still unresolved complaint, motivating its decision with the strategic importance of the project and the deadline for its completion. Subsequently, Toplivo-2 filed an appeal before the Supreme Administrative Court against the regulator's decision to allow ICGB to proceed with its intention to sign a deal with Corinth Pipeworks before a final ruling on the complaint has been issued.Toplivo-2, which is fully owned by private investor Vasil Shtrakov, will have to pay a total of 4,000 levs in court fees to both ICGB and Corinth Pipeworks, CPC said. ICGB said last month it has selected Greece's Corinth Pipeworks Industry to supply line pipes for the project under a 58.2 million euro ($65.8 million) contract.