'Needy' Judges' Relatives Case Might be Settled out of Court

Former Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court Judge Nikolay Urumov and his daughter, judge Denitsa Urumova, who have been involved in real estate scam scandal. Photo by BGNES.

Primorsko mayor Lilyana Dimova has extended a hand for negotiating an out-of-court settlement of the case of illegal acquisition of rights to build in the Bulgarian Black Sea coast town.

Dimova has called a meeting with the relatives of Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court judges who have illegally acquired building rights in Primorsko, she said in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

Her aim is to convince the people involved to voluntarily give up the rights they acquired in breach of law. Should that fail, the town is ready to file a claim in court in order to render the transactions null and void.

Dimova stated that she hopes the scandal and all its consequences can quickly come to an end.

“The rates at which the investors of already constructed buildings will be reimbursed are to be determined,” she said. This will almost certainly lead to losses for Primorsko town.

The meeting with the relatives of the three Supreme Administrative Court judges involved in the scandal is to be held today. Dimova said she has also extended an invitation to other individuals who have participated in similar scams in the past. In some cases there has reportedly been willingness to cooperate.

The scandal broke after an investigative report of the Bulgarian weekly “Kapital” revealed that three senior judges from the Supreme Administrative Court helped close relatives to obtain building rights for beach-front lots in Primorsko thanks to their acquired status of people on social benefits.

This has lead to the three judges being expelled from the Supreme Administrative Court. It was later revealed that a total of about 400 people on purported “social benefits” have similarly received rights to build in Primorsko.