Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor Downplays Irrigation Official's Crime Life

The former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bulgaria's "Irrigation Systems" Georgi Harizanov. Photo by BGNES

Georgi Harizanov, the notorious former Chair of the Board of Directors of Bulgaria's Irrigation Systems, is not an important official, Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev reckons.

"Who is Mr.Harizanov?" Velchev rhetorically asked on Thursday, stating that the crime he committed 10 years ago should not be made into a national problem.

"There is no proof that his crime is connected with his position. It was perpetrated many years before he assumed this office," the Chief Prosecutor commented, referring to Harizanov's embezzlement of BGN 50 000 back in 2001.

Reporters asked Velchev why the general public had been unaware of the trials against Harizanov.

"After a certain amount of time, an individual starts counting as one that has a clean record. That is the case with all citizens, not just Mr.Harizanov," Boris Velchev explained Thursday, as cited by dnevnik.bg.

Georgi Harizanov was removed from the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Irrigation Systems late on Monday after reports by Trud daily that he was standing trial for issuing a death threat in 2008 and was also being investigated for embezzling USD 50 000 from a Sofia-based company back in 2001. It emerged that he also has a suspended sentence for blackmail, dating from 2005.

It also emerged that upon being hired at "Irrigation Systems," Harizanov presented a clean criminal record.

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