Wife of Sentenced Sofia Heating Utility Head Charged with Fraud

The Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, says Toploto's wife had cooked up a classical extortion scheme. Photo by BGNES

The wife of the notorious former director of the state-owned heating utility Toplofikatsia Sofia will be charged with large-scale fraud.

The information was announced Wednesday by the Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, following earlier reports that the woman has been arrested in a police operation targeting blackmailers.

The tip-off was sent by a business lady, whom the suspects pressed to pay BGN 30 000 so that the contract between her company and the Sofia heating utility is not suspended. Stanislava Dimitrova wife of Valentin Dimitrov aka Valio Toploto (The Warm), 25, and two other men were detained as they were handed BGN 10 000, the first installment of the required amount.

Dimitrova will remain behind bars for 72 hours, while her accomplices will be released after spending 24 hours in jail. (Earlier reports listed the number of the detained men at 3, but Kokinov said they have been 2 – one impersonating a family friend and the other a lawyer.)

The Prosecutor did not offer further details about how Dimitrova and the blackmail victim first got in touch, but said the latter never attempted to contact Toploto's wife. The negotiations between the two women began about 2 weeks ago in a classical extortion scheme.

Kokinov further disproved earlier information that Toploto is involved in the case.

Valentin Dimitrov and another five co-defendants are accused of embezzling nearly BGN 2 M from Toplofikatsiya’s finances for the period from 2003 to 2006.

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