Till the end of March 2016, nine journalists from national and regional media, who have been awarded at the Second Investigative Journalism Competition held by AIP prepared and published 24 articles and series of articles, in national and regional media, blogs, and social media.

The publications were based on information obtained using the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) and public registers with the core help of the AIP legal team.

The significance of the investigations was proven by dozens of reprints, thousands of readers, and reactions by the investigated institutions.

The articles with accompanying infographics and files of obtained documents in the course of the investigations are published in the section “Investigations” (in Bulgarian): http://www.ati-journalists.net/bg/investigations/Razsledvania/205492/.

The investigations encompassed the following topics of high public interest:

• The EU funded projects aiming to assist the judicial system reform after Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007 at an estimated amount of nearly 60 million BGN – a topic investigated by journalist Dorotheya Dachkova from the Sega daily;
• The expenses made by 10 Bulgarian municipalities for provision of media services at the amount of 2.7 million BGN for the period 2013 - 2015 – a topic investigated by journalist Spas Spassov,  a correspondent of Dnevnik.bg and Capital weekly for the region of Varna;
• Illegal currency trading investigated by the former State Security Services – a topic investigated by journalist  Yovo Nikolov from Capital weekly;
• The inefficiency of the Commission on Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Assets evidenced by the relationship between the costs for its work and the calculated amount of confiscated illegal assets that go back to the state budget – a topic investigated by journalist Krassen Nikolov from Mediapool.bg;
• The inefficiency of the information and media campaign run by the Central Election Commission before the local government elections and the national referendum held in October 2015 at the amount of nearly 1.5 million BGN – a topic investigated by journalist Polina Paunova from the Mediapool.bg ;
• Criminals with final verdicts from the Sofia City Regional Court, Plovdiv Regional Court, Burgas Regional Court and Varna Regional Court who have escaped prison and are hiding from law enforcement bodies in Bulgaria or abroad – a topic investigated by journalist Blaga Georgieva – Baycheva from 24 Hours;
• The huge increase of the costs for medicines covered by the National Health Insurance Fund amounting to 900 million BGN in 2015, revealing the relations and dependencies established between medical doctors,  pharmaceutical companies, and patients’ organizations – a topic investigated by journalist Martina Bozukova from Mediapool;
• Decreasing investment proposals and changing the business model for construction of holiday complexes at the Southern Black Sea coast – a topic investigated by journalist Dessislava Leshtarska from Capital weekly;
• The lack of transparency and the conflict of interests behind the process of approving and printing school textbooks whose cost to the state budget for 2015 was c. 40 million BGN – a topic investigated by journalist Evelina Gecheva from the online Academica. A day after the publication of the journalistic investigation, the Minister of Education and Science Meglena Kuneva issued an Order forbidding the participation of ministerial officials and officials from the Regional Education Inspectorates in the process of drafting textbooks, and educational materials.

This is the second round of the competition which the AIP has announced and supported with the purpose to further support investigative journalism for enhancing government accountability, integrity and transparency. The results of the 2015 round of investigations completed by nine journalists are published in Bulgarian in the section: http://www.ati-journalists.net/bg/investigations/Razsledvania/205492/2015/.

The topics in English are summarized: http://www.ati-journalists.net/en/investigations/Investigations/203489/Journalistic_Investigations_2015/20150515008576/.

The journalistic investigations were supported within the project Civil Center for Support of Transparency in Public Life supported by a grant from the America for Bulgaria Foundation).