Court Postpones Trial of Former Bulgaria Road Fund Director

The former Director of the Road Fund, Veselin Georgiev, will be tried for abuse of power in September. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia City Court postponed Tuesday the trial of the infamous former Road Fund Director, Veselin Georgiev.

The new trail is scheduled for September 17 at 9:30 am.

Veselin Georgiev aka Batko (Big Brother) is charged with abuse of power and conflict of interest as Director of the Road Fund, which he used to secure profits for his brothers.

The magistrates cite as reason for the delay the failure of seven witnesses to appear for questioning and some additional requests of Georgiev's defense council.

Four witnesses were interrogated Monday.

Albena Taneva, Manager of the Road Fund in the city of Stara Zagora, admitted she has signed a contract where one of Georgiev's brothers was the beneficiary, but said she did not follow the case any further. Another witness, Hristo Dimitrov, subcontractor for public tenders that were won by the company Binder testified that Emil Georgiev, one of Veselin's brothers, had given him advice where to purchase materials, but Hristov did not know what Georgiev's position with Binder has been.

In the beginning of the Monday trial, Georgiev's attorneys requested new translation of some of the case's documents over the reason that one same word has been translated in several different ways.

Veselin Georgiev was forced into resignation from its Director's position in February 2008, after two employees of the Fund were arrested while taking a bribe and the EC put a hold on the EU infrastructure subsidy payments due to conflict of interests.

The company "Binder" managed by Emil Georgiev, younger brother of Veselin, has received contracts from the fund valued at 120 M. Before taking over the Fund, Veselin Georgiev, has been one of "Binder's" managers. Another of the Georgiev brothers owns a business selling materials for road construction. There are allegations that his company has received BGN 200 M.

 

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