After 4 years of investigation, the prosecutor’s office brought the gambling case against Bozhkov to court

The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office (SGP) submitted to the court the indictment against Vasil Bozhkov and 9 other people, including officials from the closed State Commission on Gambling 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, the SGP recalled, specifying that the group also involved officials from the closed State Gambling Commission (SGA).

Ten people have been brought to court, and Vasil Bozhkov will answer on charges of being the organizer and leader of the group, and the other nine people – A.G., G.P., A.T., B.B., O. M., T.M., P.G., E.D. and J.C. are accused of being participants in it.

Bozhkov was brought to court as an instigator in complicity with DKH officials 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 of the criminal activity, damages were caused to the state budget in the amount of BGN 559,739,164.70, the prosecution claims.

The Sofia City Court (SHC) is about to schedule an injunctive hearing to consider the case. The investigation against Bozhkov began at the end of 2019, and at the beginning of 2020, when the prosecutor’s office raided his offices and properties, it became known that he had left the country.

Bozhkov, who was in Dubai for three years, returned to Bulgaria in August and was detained. He is currently under house arrest after a short stay in custody. This did not prevent Vasil Bozhkov from announcing at the end of February that he was creating a new political platform.

The court overturned the seizure of valuables from Bozhkov’s collection for over BGN 20 million.

Based on Bozhkov’s claims that he was blackmailed by GERB leader Boyko Borisov to pay 20% of the National Lottery’s winnings and that he personally gave the former prime minister and the former finance minister Vladislav Goranov over BGN 60 million, pre-trial proceedings were also initiated , but the prosecutor’s office terminated it at the end of last year.

At the beginning of April, the prosecutor’s office announced that it had finished the investigation and would file an indictment in court against him under the so-called criminal case, while the prosecutor’s office indicated that no evidence was found that he led an organized criminal group. According to the so-called criminal case Bozhkov will be responsible for guaranteeing three murders and attempted rape.