At “HelpKarma” they distributed salaries of over BGN 20,000 from donation money.

Employees of the “HelpKarma” charitable foundation, which has some of the most successful campaigns for the treatment of children and adults with serious illnesses, have received salaries of around BGN 20,000 – BGN 30,000 per month in certain periods of 2018 and 2019 , emerges from an investigation by bTV, broadcast on the program “This morning.”

The foundation was established for public benefit in the summer of 2017 and for about 2-3 years since it has been in operation, it has raised around BGN 21 million in donations, according to information from its manager Konstantin Krastev. Of this amount, BGN 13.5 million went to charitable causes and BGN 5.2 million are available in the foundation’s accounts. The rest of the money is for maintenance, mainly for staff salaries.

HelpKarma’s campaigns are far more successful than those of other organizations in that huge sums are raised in a matter of hours or days to target specific people. For example, in 8 hours, donors have raised more than BGN 500,000 for an emergency liver transplant for baby Andy, reports bTV. In two weeks, more than BGN 220,000 were received for an operation that saved the life of Vladi, 28, from Burgas. For more than a month and a half, more than 700,000 BGN have been raised for the treatment of the father of three children, Angel. More than 640,000 BGN have been raised to help the Bulgarian health system in the fight against Covid-19.

For its maintenance, the platform retains a percentage of each donation, which in the past (for example in February 2018) was 6.5%, and now it is 5%. However, the foundation wrote on its website that it charges a “0% fee for the platform.”

Konstantin Krastev told bTV that the foundation employs 17 people. The average salary in the company’s IT department was BGN 3,900 in 2018, BGN 4,824 in 2019, and this year it has dropped to BGN 1,213, according to the organization.

However, technical director Slavcho Slavchev receives much larger amounts: an average of BGN 28,000 per month, according to bTV. Slavchev himself points out to the camera that he does not remember exactly what salary he received over the years, but admits that he received 19,000 BGN a month. According to bTV, the director’s salary was initially BGN 22,000, then it reached BGN 50,000, then it was reduced to BGN 26,000 and after mid-2019 it increased again to BGN 40,000, as of December 2019. There was data that it reached around BGN 80,000 per month.

Manager Konstantin Krastev, who claims he works without pay, admits that due to a technical problem with the payments, 312,000 BGN were transferred to his account, which he later returned.

In 2019, director Slavi Slavchev granted a personal loan from the foundation in the amount of BGN 51,000 for the purchase of an apartment, which he already paid with interest.

HelpKarma: We will comment on Monday

There is still no official comment from the foundation regarding the exported data. The foundation’s manager, Konstantin Krastev, told Mediapool that he would present his official position on the case on Monday, after learning the expanded version of the investigation, which will be broadcast on Saturday.

Commercial register: Krastev participated in quick loans and collection services

According to the official activity report of the foundation for 2019, published in the Mercantile Registry, 13 full-time employees work there and the average workforce is 12 people.

Donation income in 2019 according to the report was BGN 5 million, and for 2018, BGN 1.8 million.

Years ago, Konstantin Krastev worked in the field of finance. He was CEO and shareholder of the fast loan company Credisimo, and also participated in the management of the collection agency Globex Collect.

Georgi Kadiev: There are discrepancies in insurance

Former Deputy Finance Minister Georgi Kadiev commented on his Facebook account that there is a discrepancy between the data in the report and the official financial statements in the Commercial Registry. For example, the reports speak of revenue of less than BGN 7 million during the three years since HelpKarma existed, while the bTV foundation speaks of BGN 21 million.

Kadiev also points out that there are discrepancies in the insurance data. For 2018, for example, foundation insurance costs in the amount of BGN 6,000 have been reported, and in 2019, BGN 34,000 for staff salary costs of BGN 208,000 and BGN 679,000, respectively. According to the former deputy Minister of Finance, these amounts for insurance are extremely insufficient.

All this leads me to a common insurance fraud in our companies: all the money is received by one person, in this case Slavcho, he is insured at the maximum threshold and distributes the cash to others. This also explains why Slavcho with an average salary of Needed a loan of 28,000 BGN out of a paltry 50,000 BGN. This is done with the knowledge of the owner, of course, and they most likely took it from this money as well. Otherwise, he works “without pay”, as he himself put it. “, Kadiev admits.