Bulgaria Illegal Assets Law to Target Parties Too - Report

Bulgarian authorities are likely to acquire the right to launch probes and seize - following an indictment - unexplained wealth, worth more than BGN 250,000 which has been acquired over the last 10 years under the draft law. File photo

Bulgaria's long-delayed bill authorizing widespread confiscation of illegal assets will probe the financing of parties, as well as participants in public procurements, insiders say.

"The ruling GERB party is preparing on the sly serious changes to the bill in between the first and second readings," the opposition-leaning Sega daily reported on Wednesday, citing well-informed sources.

For the first time ever violations related to the financing of political parties and election campaigns will entitle authorities to launch an asset forfeiture procedure, the article said.

The law is also expected to be applied in cases of violations of the public procurement law, which in practice means that each participant in a contract is a potential customer of the commission for asset forfeiture.

Analysts say the last-minute changes most probably come under pressure from Brussels officials, who have severely criticized Bulgarian parties and public procurement procedures for lack of transparency and corruption.

Last week Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov vowed that if the law is not passed in the way agreed with European Commission Presiden Jose Manuel Barroso, he will resign „the very next day".

The long-delayed and much-changed bill is expected to be voted on second reading by the Bulgarian Parliament before Easter, or mid-April.

Bulgarian authorities are likely to acquire the right to launch probes and seize - following an indictment - unexplained wealth, worth more than BGN 250,000 which has been acquired over the last 10 years under the draft law.

It sets out a regime for non-conviction based asset forfeiture, but the procedure will be launched only if the person is indicted with terrorism, participation in an organized criminal group, kidnapping, enticement to prostitution, human trafficking, theft, robbery, embezzlement, unprofitable deal drugs and tax evasion.

The opposition has slammed the amendments, saying that they create conditions for persecution and repression of political opponents, while making untouchable the white color criminals who piled up their wealth through privatization deals and administrative crimes.

The majority in Bulgaria's parliament surprisingly failed to pass through the keenly expected bill in July last year, triggering fierce criticism in the EU and US, as well as suspicions of a set-up.

The draft law, initiated by Bulgaria's former Justice Minister and current Vice President Margarita Popova and widely touted by the ruling party as a powerful tool in crime and corruption combat, initially envisaged that the commission will have the right to launch investigations into incomes and acquisitions for the last 15 years and seize assets without conviction.

Foreign diplomats in Sofia has warned that watering down the bill for confiscation of illegally obtained assets may result in partial amnesty.

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