НаBarcelonagate ″ and money laundering: why in Bulgaria there is no conviction for money laundering from corruption? | News and analyzes from Bulgaria DW
If the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office does its job on “Barcelonagate”, then it must expose and accuse kleptocrats. That is – to prove money laundering in Spain, he must first prove corruption in Bulgaria. But how to do this once you get there is no rule? This is the question of questions.
The naked truth in the “Barcelonagate” scandal, which erupted in 2020, is not registered with the banal case of a young beauty, most likely kept by the child’s father. We are looking for the origin of the funds that were purchased luxury house and boutique in Spain. According to revelations from the newspaper “Sega”, the conclusions of the report of the Spanish authorities, sent to SANS, there is a proposal for laundered 5 million euros. Also that “according to the discovery of the source, as basic information contained in the complaint, it is assumed that the funds may be related to undeclared ones by senior officials of the Bulgarian government, including Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.”
Awakening
It seems that the report and other factors were developed by the special prosecutor’s office, which 7 months ago announced that an “intensive investigation” was underway and money laundering was being carried out in “Barcelonagate”, but after entering hibernation. However, it has now sent a European research order to Cyprus to reveal banking secrecy and provide data from the Trade Register. An offshore company has been registered on the island, after which they spent a total of 1.75 million euros on the way to a Spanish company, provide a boutique and a Porsche in Barcelona to the former “Miss Bikini”. “The Spanish company changes owners in a short period of time, but all those involved have some direct or indirect connection with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria,” the Spanish report said.
The Special Prosecutor’s Office could facilitate its work if it is reached by the National Revenue Agency (NRA), which provides information on property and income of Bulgarian citizens abroad through international exchange. But the NRA may request – due to research – data on the bank accounts and incomes of Bulgarian companies and individuals from 114 countries of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Cooperation in Economic Matters. It also includes 40 countries with offshore regimes, including Cyprus.
KPKONPI also included could help if it is. The Anti-Corruption Commission can inspect the property 10 years ago, and also confiscate it if the discrepancy between the legal income and the property is BGN 150,000. The house in Barcelona was transferred to the capital of a company owned by the young beauty in early 2013 by a wealthy businessman. Well, so KPKONPI can still check him and the beauty’s father – a former plumber with hundreds of thousands of euros, and a few more entangled in “Barcelonagate”. This will make it easier for the prosecutor’s office to see if the business of these people and the taxes they pay allow them to lose so much money in Barcelona.
Contradictions
It seems that Bulgaria may be the most corrupt country in the Low Union (EU), according to the Transparency International 2021 index, and there is also no conviction for money laundering from corruption. Years ago, the prosecutor’s office failed in the investigation into money laundering against former MRF MP Hristo Biserov. At the time when the chief prosecutor was Sotir Tsatsarov, the pre-trial proceedings against him were terminated.
Money laundering is also out of focus on the Bulgarian judiciary in the case of the current Prosecutor General – Ivan Geshev. In early 2019, a report on the economic policy of European Commission countries found that in Bulgaria, two-thirds of suspicious transactions reported by financial institutions in the Financial Intelligence Directorate involve local political figures, but to those who A few months later, Brussels corrected its report, replacing “two-thirds” with “a certain number” after a “reaction from the Bulgarian authorities”, hampering their search and transformation into the prosecution’s annual evidence.
Now in SANS, where this Financial Intelligence Directorate is located, which is located with the Spanish report. It should be known politically that the number of local figures with suspicious transactions also includes actors in Barcelona. Even if they have worked at idle, the information files keep data – as is important, which banks report to “Financial Intelligence” in accordance with their obligations under the Anti-Exposure Measures Act.
Will Tsvetanov speak?
So, if the prosecutor’s office intends to investigate “Barcelonagate”, it must conscientiously cut through a certain amount of information. (Probably some information is also in the CDCOC.) The money to the offshore companies all somehow entered Cyprus – through bank transactions, which is traceable, or transferred cash, which can also be established. As long as, of course, the state prosecution seeks help from the BNB.
Isn’t it time for Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Minister of the Interior and Boyko Borissov’s right-hand man at the time of the events in Barcelona, to speak?
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