Bulgaria's Automobile Administration Agency Head Charged with Malfeasance

Valentin Bozhkov, Executive Director of Bulgaria's Automobile Administration Executive Agency, photo by BGNES

The Executive Director of Bulgaria's Automobile Administration Executive Agency (AAEA), Valentin Bozhkov, faces charges of malfeasance in office and has been questioned by the Center for Prevention and Countering Corruption and Organized Crime at the Council of Ministers.

Bozhkov was questioned Wednesday afternoon and after charges were pressed against him, he was released upon signed promise for appearance, according to Hristo Georgiev, Bozhkov's lawyer, as cited by the BGNES news agency.

Georgiev commented that the charges were very unclear and did not specify what concrete actions the defendant had committed, or failed to commit, in the period 2012-2013, and what damage had been inflicted to the AAEA.

Bozhkov was arrested Tuesday in his office during an operation of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and the "Criminal Police" Chief Directorate of the Interior.

Apart from the AAEA head, 12 other officials of the AAEA were detained, including Bozhkov's secretary, and charges were pressed against at least 5 of them.

Ivo Naydenov, lawyer of another defendant, commented in an interview for Sega daily that the case involved pre-trial proceedings over bribery from June 2013.

Asked to comment on the case, Bulgarian Transport Minister Danail Papazov claimed that the prosecuting authority was working on a large-scale corruption scheme at the AAEA, adding that the investigation had most probably been launched during the term in office of the caretaker government.

In an interview for Darik radio, caretaker Transport Minister Kristiyan Krastev rejected allegations that there had been tip-offs about corruption at AAEA during his term in office.

Bozhkov was appointed head of the Automobile Administration Executive Agency in July 2011, replacing Simeon Arnaudov, who resigned after a bus crash on the Trakia highway claimed eight lives.

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