Bulgaria Jails Major Financial Fraudster for 2,5 Years

The owner of a notorious major financial group in Bulgaria will spend two and a half years in jail, a court ruled on Friday after finding him guilty of misappropriating millions of levs from clients.

Ivo Nedyalkov set up East-West International Holding Group in 1992. When the value of the company's shares fell sharply in 1994, thousands of small investors lost all their profits and the capital they had invested. He had managed to attract 5,500 investors, whose installments he pocketed.

He was then placed under investigation on suspicion of having misappropriated several million dollars and was charged with misappropriation and misuse of the assets of East West International.

Seven years ago Nedyalkov was charged with misappropriation of nearly 130,000,000 million non-denominated levs and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. The court finally renamed charges into "fraud" thus saving him from possible sentence of 30 years imprisonment.

Following a number of appeals his sentence was reduced to five years. The Supreme Cassation Court upheld on Friday the verdict in the part dealing with the time he will spend behind bars.

Nedyalkov has already served two and a half years of the sentence, which the court ruled valid and which will be deducted.

At the end of 2005 the European Court on Human Rights ruled in favour of the former owner of the financial pyramid "East West International Holding Group" fining Bulgaria to pay EUR 3,000 for non-pecuniary damage.

Nedyalkov complained that he had not been brought promptly before a judge following his arrest. He complained that his detention had been unlawful and excessive in length, and alleged that he had not had access to a judicial review of his detention. In addition he complained about the length of the proceedings against him.

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