Bulgaria's Specialized Prosecution Presses Charges against 4 VAT Fraudsters

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has abstained from comments regarding the arrest of Grisha Ganchev's son. Photo by BGNES

Four of the six detained on suspicion of participating in a VAT draining scheme in the sugar industry have been charged and will remain under arrest for 72 hours, according to Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

Tsvetanov told journalists Friday that he expected charges to be pressed against the other two by the end of the day.

Tsvetanov remarked that he did not know the names of the detained so he could not tell whether the son of businessman Grisha Ganchev was among them.

The Interior Minister stressed that he would rather refrain from opening up a dialogue with Ganchev via the media.

"I believe that what was done by the competent bodies - the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP), the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and the Specialized Prosecutor's Office - is enough. The prosecuting authority is the one that decides whether the evidence gathered is enough to press charges and to keep them in custody for 72 hours," Tsvetanov stated.

Earlier on Friday, the owner of Litex Commerce Grisha Ganchev dismissed as speculations claims of the Interior concerning the involvement of people from the company in VAT draining schemes.

Ganchev himself was summoned Friday to the GDBOP headquarters for a questioning that lasted around fifteen minutes.

A special operation conducted Thursday by the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP) resulted in six arrests, including Ganchev's son.

The operation was aimed at busting an organized crime group in the sugar industry which had allegedly drained the state budget of millions of leva in VAT.

On Thursday morning, the headquarters of the Litex conglomerate of companies in Sofia was raided by anti-mafia police.

The officers seized documents and IT equipment.

In a media statement distributed Thursday afternoon, the Interior Ministry reported that the VAT fraudsters had also been planning to  to import a test quantity of 25 tonnes of sugar containing toxic elements from the region of Chernobyl in Ukraine, the home town of the busted nuclear power plant.

In the event that it could be sold successfully in Bulgaria, the group planned to set up permanent imports of toxic sugar.

If the sugar proved to be of poor quality it would be used for the production of natural juice.

In a Friday interview for the morning broadcast of private TV station bTV, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov confirmed Thursday's findings, while Grisha Ganchev kept denying the accusations.

Ganchev is one of the biggest sugar importers in the country and owns four out of a total of six sugar refineries in Bulgaria.

The plants are located in Ruse, Sofia, Burgas and Dolna Mitropolia.

Ganchev is also the owner of the Litex FC and the Litex Commerce company.

In end-2011, Ganchev's joint venture with the Chinese company Great Wall Motors, Litex Motors, started the production of Chinese cars for the EU market in the Litex Motors factory near Bulgaria's Lovech, in the village of Bahovitsa.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!