Corruption at Municipal Level: Abuse of Resources and Illegal Logging in Yundola – Yordan Mitsikulev

Vlogger Yordan Mitsikulev reveals large-scale abuses in the Velingrad municipality, where a recently promoted employee illegally cuts down centuries-old trees and uses municipal workers to clear her newly acquired expensive plot in the resort of Yundola.

Unexplained Wealth and Career Growth

Mima Tosheva worked until recently as an ordinary clerk in the municipality of Velingrad with a monthly remuneration of around 1,200–1,300 BGN. Surprisingly, she acquired an extremely attractive regulated landed property in the most expensive villa zone of Yundola, located in the Pripechka area next to the main road to Sofia. In parallel with this unexplained acquisition, the employee received a management post specially created for her. She became director of the "Ecology and Cleanliness" directorate, a position directly subordinate to the relevant deputy mayor.

The author of the video highlights the lack of competence among such personnel, noting that people with primary education demonstrate huge self-esteem, even though they would hard-pressed to find realization even as shop assistants in the real sector. He expresses a definitive opinion that this rapid career growth and the expensive plot represent a kind of bonus for her silence regarding much larger crimes and stolen properties in the municipality.

Abuse of Municipal Workers and a Fictitious Street

Following a report by local residents, the vlogger went to the site and found severe violations. Under the pretext that a new municipal street was being built, over 10 temporary employment workers were sent to the field.

• Official project: Construction of municipal infrastructure with an expected maximum width of 8 to 9 meters.
• Real execution: Large-scale clearing of the director's private plot across a width of 30 to 40 meters.

Paid directly by the municipality, the workers were not building a street but removing vegetation and preparing Tosheva's plot for future construction. Although the people managed to hide shortly before the video clip was filmed due to a leak of information, the pegs left on site from the geodetic survey and the gathered piles of branches categorically prove the manipulations being carried out in favor of private interest.

Illegal Logging of an Ancient Forest

The clearing of the meadow escalated into illegal clear-cutting of a centuries-old forest. A forestry officer employed within the municipality itself pre-marked the trees to give a semblance of legality to the process.

The perpetrators cut down healthy trees with trunks over 50 centimeters in diameter. The workers acted extremely irresponsibly, out of laziness cutting the stumps at a height of 1.5 meters from the ground. Subsequently, they smeared and carefully hid the remains with leaf litter to make it look like old logging before potential inspectors. All these facts reinforce the serious suspicions of a well-organized scheme for extracting huge quantities of timber and personal enrichment at the expense of nature.

Institutional Umbrella and Social Injustice

Yordan Mitsikulev expresses deep distrust towards the law enforcement institutions in the country. He refuses to rely on the prosecutor's office because, based on his past experience, he believes that filing an official report will most likely lead to repression and an investigation against himself rather than prompt real action against the corrupt individuals.

The vlogger sharply criticizes the political class, pointing out that by appointing such personnel, the GERB party has hit rock bottom. He recalls a cynical remark by Assen Vassilev as a vivid illustration of the authorities' contemptuous attitude toward the ordinary people. In closing, the author emphasizes the vast social contrast in Bulgaria – while public officials participating in schemes acquire luxury properties without real labor, elderly people and pensioners count their coins and barely survive.