1 Million Bulgarians Might Face Illegal Property Seizure

Stoyan Kushlev, Head of the Commission which prepared the amendments. Photo by BGNES

As many as 1 200 000 Bulgarians may be affected by the new amendments to the law on seizing illegal assets.

The new acts are prepared by the Bulgaria's so called 'Kushlev' Commission (named after its Head, Stoyan Kushlev), which deals with catching hold of illegal property in favor of the State. The law will now cover all illegal assets which have been acquired during the last 15 years.

Between 80 000 and 400 000 Bulgarian families, or around or over 1 million people will be affected by the amendments, as estimated by the Bulgarian economist Georgi Ganev.

He also pointed out that between BGN 50 B and BGN 200 B have been generated in the unregistered economy sector in Bulgaria during the last 15 years. Unregistered economy is the economic activities which happen without the government knowing. Each year, this sector earns as much as 10-15% of Bulgaria's GDP.

Meanwhile, the new amendments were attacked by the Center for Liberal Strategies  and declared as human rights abuse. The case might end up in Strasbourg, according to Yonko Grozev from the Center.

The reason is that the law now presumes all assets exceeding BGN 60 000, for which there is no existing documentation, to be illegal.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!