The case against Vasil Bozhkov and officials from the closed commission on gambling reached the court – Important today

The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office (SGP) submitted to the court the indictment against Vasil Bozhkov and 9 other people for an organized criminal group created for extortion, official and corruption crimes.

Criminal proceedings were initiated in the now-closed Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in 2019 in connection with data on a criminal group that aimed to commit official and corruption crimes. Officials from the closed State Gambling Commission (SGA) also participated in the group.

Ten persons were brought to court – Vasil Bozhkov is listed as the organizer and leader of the group, and the remaining nine persons – A.G., G.P., A.T., B.B., O.M., T.M., P.G., E.D. and J.Ch, as participants in it, some of them in the capacity of officials from the already closed State Commission on Gambling

Bozhkov. was brought to court as an instigator in complicity with officials from the State Gambling Commission, who committed a breach of their official duties – they allowed not to be charged and not to collect the full amount of fees due under the Gambling Act.

As a result, the state budget was damaged by over half a billion BGN. The exact amount is BGN 556,872,283, announced by the Ministry of Finance.

This sets out the inspection by the State Financial Inspection Agency (FSAI) for the period from the beginning of 2014 to the end of 2019 and covers the payment of state fees by companies New Games, National Lottery, Eurofootball and Eurobet – all of them related to Vasil Bozhkov, against whom there are 18 charges.

Private gambling firms, unlike the state-run lotto, have been paying state tax on the difference between funds collected and winnings paid out, rather than on all bets, it emerged in late 2019.

The companies’ licenses were then revoked, The State Gambling Commission was closed and its functions were taken over by the NRA, and its chairman, Alexander Georgiev, was accused of an official crime. Charges were also brought against Bozhkov.

“The under-control in the State Gambling Commission”, because of which Vasil Bozhkov’s companies paid lower state taxes for 5 years, became one of the reasons why Boyko Borisov later released Vladislav Goranov as Minister of Financeis.

Bozhkov himself claims that he was blackmailed by the leader of GERB Boyko Borisov to pay 20% of the profit of the National Lottery and personally gave the former prime minister and the former finance minister Vladislav Goranov more than BGN 60 million. The pre-trial proceedings in this case were terminated at the end of last year.

The controversial businessman was hiding in Dubai for 4 years. Bozhkov was arrested immediately after landing in Bulgaria in the summer of 2023. He is under house arrest, but this did not prevent him from establishing a party.

Vasil Bozhkov allied himself with the breakaways from “Vazrazhdane”, they separated from him