Top-ranking Bulgarian Veterinarian Arrested for Racketeering

Bulgaria's deputy head vet Leonid Lavchev has been arrested over a bribe of BGN 1000. Photo by nvms.government.bg

The Deputy Director of Bulgaria’s National Veterinary-Medical Service, Leonid Lavchev, has been arrested on “racketeering” charges.

This has been announced by Bulgaria’s Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who said Lavchev demanded a bribe of BGN 1 000 from a private dairy farm in the southern city of Haskovo. Lavchev has sent a special person to collect the bribe.

“This is part of our fight against corruption because such administrators harass the small firms and the people who produce anything in Bulgaria. The so called licensing of the dairy farms is going on right now, and this is one of the ways in which they get racketeered,” said Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

Bulgaria’s Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, who alerted Tsvetanov about Lavchev’s racketeering attempts, said he got the information from the Veterinary Service Director Yordan Voynov.

The dairy farm blackmailed by Lavchev is called “Tonus”. It is one of the largest in the region of Haskovo, and is located in the village of Konush. Lavchev has been transported to Haskovo where he will be interrogated over the case.

Agriculture and Interior Ministers have stated they would have zero tolerance for such cases of abuse of power and corruption.

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