'Golden' Haskovo Mayor Flees Bulgaria after Corruption Warning

Georgi Ivanov, Haskovo's mayor, has fled from Bulgaria after corruption allegations. Photo by blitz.bg

The mayor of the Bulgarian city of Haskovo, Georgi Ivanov, has fled the country after being accused of fraud and ‘favoring' certain companies and people, leading to the draining of what is estimated to be millions of leva from the local municipality budget.

Mayor Ivanov was expected to be sacked in the near future and also taken to court for unfairly favoring his son, Pavel Ivanov and business partner Kamen Gurbev along with the firm "Ares-2002" owned by local businessman Ivan Petrov, regarding local municipality building projects and planning permission worth millions of leva.

The Bulgarian Parliamentary Commission for Fighting Corruption has suggested that Ivanov made hundreds of ‘favors' to friends and family. One such favor involved his wife and other son Stanimir's company being given projects for renovation of municipality buildings worth over BGN 5 M.

The scandal dates back to the beginning of 2005 but only last month did the recently set up Commission serve 14 warnings of corruption regarding Ivanov to the local Haskovo municipality authorities, BGNES news agency reported.

The State Agency for National Security (DANS) informed that the investigation into Ivanov's dealings had not yet finished, soon after Ivanov had stated to Bulgarian TV channel bTV on the phone from Germany that all investigations regarding him were over.

 

 

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