Embezzelement Trial against Bulgarian Consultancy Head Suspended

Bulgaria's prosecuting authority has suspended the case against Bogomil Manchev, the head of Risk Engineering consultancy, two years after the case was launched.

Prosecutors, quoted by the Bulgarian National Radio, say there was "lack of evidence" of his involvement in an embezzlement scheme, back on October 1, three days before an investigation into the alleged scam was to end.

Manchev was accused of embezzlement after authorities established that Risk Engineering, which consulted the state on the Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project, kept receiving BGN 8.7 M in payment from the National Electricity Company (NEK) months after the government had ditched the project in the spring of 2012.

Manchev was one of the two defendants along with Sabin Sabinov. The latter was CEO at Worley Parsons in Bulgaria, the company in charge of construction oversight of Belene NPP.

In the autumn of 2013, Manchev "made history" by being imposed a bail of BGN 1 M, the biggest ever on record in Bulgaria. The sum was later cut in half.

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