WikiLeaks: Diplomats' Unpaid Parking Tickets Threatened US Aid to Bulgaria

In June, the seal of the Republic of Bulgaria was used as a bogus permit offering day-long free spots on some of New York's busiest streets as a media experiment. Photo by New York Daily News

Bulgarian diplomats have accumulated the staggering amount of USD 316 082 in unpaid parking tickets in New York City and Washington DC between 1998 and 2007.

The information comes from an US diplomatic cable sent by Charge d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Sofia Alex Karagiannis and released by WikiLeaks and their Bulgarian partner, the site for investigative journalism Bivol.bg.

According to the cable, the US Department of State had sent to their Embassy in Sofia the bill along with a threat the US government will cut US assistance for 2007 by nearly USD 0.5 M if Bulgaria does not pay the fines.

The cable alarmed Karagiannis enough to prompt him to conduct a thorough accounting check of the amount by years where he found discrepancies and mistakes. He recommended to the State Department to fix the latter before officially approaching the Bulgarian government.

The Charge d'Affaires further points out as a problem the fact Bulgaria does not receive any other but military assistance from the US, saying that cutting this assistance for an ally in Iraq and Afghanistan would not be a great idea.

The diplomat extends a proposal to different American services to coordinate their actions and to make an assessment of how damaging to the US national interests the possible collection of unpaid fines would become.

Karagiannis estimates that the Bulgarian diplomats' "dodging," as Bivol calls it, over their belief they are untouchable, could deprive the Bulgarian army from three Hammer vehicles (HMMWV).

Bivol further writes that the available reports do not reveal the conclusion of the unpaid tickets saga – if the US forgave the fines or if they have been compensated by Bulgarian taxpayers.

The original text of the cable read HERE and HERE.

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