Trial against Controversial Bulgarian Football Star-Turned Mayor Stumbles

Crime | July 8, 2011, Friday // 12:48|  views

Yordan Lechkov, former football star and Mayor of the southern Bulgarian town of Sliven. Photo by BGNES

A trial against Yordan Lechkov, former football star and Mayor of the southern Bulgarian town of Sliven, was postponed Friday.

Lechkov's lawyers demanded that new expert reports be carried out regarding the Mayor's potential wrongdoings. The football legend faces charges of abuse of office, this time for illegally granting four companies a municipal building, which has cost the Sliven municipality nearly BGN 700 000.

Lechkov behaved aggressively in the courtroom, calling a Prosecutor "impotent"and "setting his nerves on edge".

The Prosecutor, Plamen Stefanov, said that the Mayor should undergo a psychiatric examinations and expressed his suspicion he may be on drugs, Dnes.dir,bg reports.

A little more than a year ago, Lechkov, was kicked out of office by the local district court over alleged abuse of power. He was however reinstated just a few months later.

Prosecutors have raised nine charges against Lechkov, who is currently Vice President of the Bulgarian Football Federation.

The charges involve the sale of the flea market in the city which did not respect the decision of the municipal council. Lechkov is also alleged to have put pressure on the local National Revenue Agency office to cover up tax audits of certain local companies. Companies, linked to the Mayor, are also said to have benefited from dozens of public procurement deals.

Recently, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov endorsed the controversial Mayor of as his party's candidate for the upcoming local elections in October.

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Tags: mayor, Yordan Lechkov, Sliven, abuse of office, trial, Boyko Borisov

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