Bulgaria's Judiciary Fires Corrupt Prosecutor

Bulgaria's judiciary has dismissed Prosecutor Velkov (middle) who took a bribe of BGN 23 000. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s Supreme Judicial Council (VSS) has fired a prosecutor from the city of Pleven who was caught with a bribe of BGN 23 000 in October 2009.

Prosecutor Georgi Velko was arrested together with businessman Iliyan Mihaylov on suspicions of blackmailing a local businessman, Yosko Isaev.

Isaev, who is the manager of “Pleven Bread” firm in the northern city of Pleven, explained he had been deceived by another businessman, Iliyan Mihaylov, that he could regain property of a flour mill in the region through court proceedings against another local firm, Octopus Invest Holding, which could be arranged by Prosecutor Georgi Velkov.

Isaev gave in person BGN 15 000 in cash to Velko and BGN 8 000 to Mihaylov right before the two were busted in a coordinated operation of the Interior Ministry, the Sofia Prosecutor’s Office, and the National Security Agency.

The Pleven businessman, however, also revealed that had been the third bribe he had given Prosecutor Velkov. The first time he gave him BGN 10 000 for the suit over the flour mill to be started, and then another BGN 10 000 to terminate the proceedings. Isaev gave the local media three tapes of his conversations with Mihaylov and Velkov with information about arranging the bribes.

Mihaylov and Velkov were arrested at the end of October but were released on a bail of BGN 10 000 each several days later.

Mihaylov has claimed the money he received from Isaev was a repayment of an old debt. He also says Velkov and him are victims of a setup so that they can be removed from the case against the Octopus Investment Holding firm.

The owner of the Octopus Investment Holding firm, Svetlozar Dichevski is under investigation for large-scale property fraud.

With Velkov’s dismissal, the VSS does not confirm his guilt and he is still officially not guilty of bribery. The Supreme Judicial Council, however, has concluded that with his actions Prosecutor Georgi Velkov has tainted the image of the judiciary and must be removed from the system.

Another prosecutor, Veselin Georgiev, from the southern town of Madan was punished with a 15% reduction of his salary for not paying money he owed to a local car maintenance and gas station for fixing his car.

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