Shady Pleven Businessman Won 2008 Defense Ministry Tender

Stoyko Stoev (front) is one of the VSS members, whose name came up in an alleged corruption scheme. Photo by BGNES

The shady businessman from Pleven whose name is tangled in a highly publicized judicial corruption scandal is a significant land owner in the city of Shumen.

The news was reported Wednesday by Radio Shumen.

It was revealed on October 8 that three magistrates, members of the Supreme Judicial Council (VSS), Stoyko Stoev, Ivan Dimov and Plamen Stoilov, had connections with the man, known as “Krasio from Pleven.” The latter is an an individual who, allegedly, offered magistrates to secure their appointment to high ranking positions through the vote of the VSS in exchange for EUR 200 000 in cash.

The land in Shumen is 4 108 square meters and was purchased by Krasio along with five industrial buildings valued at BGN 152 000.

Curiously enough, the property was acquired through a public tender of the Bulgarian Defense Ministry, which Krasio won on December 10, 2008. The new Governor of the Region of Shumen, Dimitar Alexandrov, says the tender has been already discussed by the Shumen Municipal Council where the councilors from the now ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party raised the issue saying the deal was disadvantageous for the State because the land was sold for the minimal price of BGN 45 per square meter including the Value Added Tax.

Krasio has been identified as Krasimir Georgiev, 27, from the northern city of Pleven, where he has a share in the disco bar “Anaconda” and is described as a “dark skinned man wearing many gold chains and using luxury cars and a driver.”

A month ago, Georgiev was charged with perjury over telling interrogators he never knew any magistrates.

The scandal first emerged in June when the VSS member, Ivan Kolev, revealed that a “dark skinned man from the city of Pleven” had been offering magistrates to secure the vote of VSS for high ranking appointments in exchange of EUR 200 000.

It was also revealed recently that Krasimir Georgiev worked in 2005 for the election campaign of the party of former Tsar, Simeon Saxe-Coburg, National Movement for Stability and Prosperity, (NMSP), in the city of Pleven.

The VSS appointed a committee last week to probe the case. The three magistrates have been under increased pressure to submit their resignations.

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