Bulgarian Football Star, Ex Mayor Acquitted of Signing Unprofitable Contract

Yordan Lechkov, former Sliven Mayor and current Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian Football Union, has been aquitted of signing an unprofitable deal in his capacity of public official. Photo by BGNES

The Plovdiv Appellate Court has acquitted Yordan Lechkov, former Sliven Mayor and current Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian Football Union, on charges of signing an unprofitable deal in his capacity of public official.

On January 14, 2013, Bulgarian football star Lechkov was sentenced to two years of imprisonment by the Stara Zagora District Court for signing an unprofitable deal for the reconstruction of Sliven's water supply and sewage network which resulted in damages of BGN 571 783 for the Sliven municipality.

The Plovdiv Appellate Court also acquitted Lechkov on charges of exerting pressure over the director of the Sliven-based office of the National Revenue Agency to stop tax inspections at two companies.

The ruling of the Plovdiv Appellate Court is not final and can be appealed or protested before the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS) within 15 days.

In end-2012, the Sliven District Court acquitted Lechkov on charges of malfeasance in office. Lechkov had been charged with abusing his power to terminate the contract of a company which had won a public procurement for repairing the fence of a local school. This was the only one of four trials against Lechkov to be tried at a Sliven-based court as the magistrates to which the cases had been assigned self-recused.

In June 2012, VKS conclusively acquitted Lechkov on charges of soliciting a BGN 5000 bribe from a local businessman to influence a decision of Bulgaria's Executive Forests Agency on the construction of a water pipe.

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