An indictment was filed against Bozhkov and superiors in the gambling commission

The prosecutor’s office filed an indictment against businessman Vasil Bozhkov and nine other people. Among them are two heads of the State Commission on Gambling (SCC), which was closed after the scandal with private lotteries, one director of a directorate and one expert. Bozhkov’s wife Elena is also accused.

The main charge is that they all participated in a criminal group. As a result of its activities, four of Bozhkov’s companies have not paid the state close BGN 559 million in gambling fees and taxes.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the businessman was the organizer and leader of the criminal group. The rest are charged as participants. There is also an accusation of extortion and racketeering against the competitors of Bozhkov brothers Naydenov, as well as an accusation of bribery.

About 250 witnesses were questioned during the pre-trial proceedings. The indictment is over 3,000 pages, collected in over 250 volumes, said prosecutor Angel Kanchev.

This is one of the first investigations against Bozhkov. It was established in the now defunct specialized prosecutor’s office, and after its closure, it was transferred to the city prosecutor’s office of Sofia.

All participants are initialed, including former Gambling Commission bosses. The institution was closed after investigations against Bozhkov began, and gambling control activity was transferred to the National Revenue Agency.

The other consequence of the investigation was that Bozhkov parted with his gambling business, and the companies that organized the betting stopped their activities because of revoked licenses. Bozhkov himself filed a case against the state in the European Court of Human Rights.

The main dispute in this case is what should have been the fee that Bozhkov paid to the state. The problem was that gambling companies paid a reduced fee between 2014 and 2019 – 20% on the difference between bets and winnings paid out (that is, on a significantly lower basis), rather than 15% on collected bets, as the state bookmaker had feared . On the tax dispute, an interpretive case has been pending in the Supreme Administrative Court for more than a year, on which there is no progress so far.

The current criminal case is not the only one against Bozhkov. Recently, it became known that the investigation into the case, in which the businessman is accused of a criminal group for murder, rape, extortion and incitement to murder, has been completed. Along with him, six other people will be brought to court.

Bozhkov is currently under house arrest and is making a second attempt to found a political party. After investigations began against him, he fled to Dubai, where he spent three years. Upon his return to our country, he was arrested.

Bozhkov claims that he was extorted by former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov into paying them tens of millions in bribes to keep his gambling business running smoothly. The prosecutor’s office found no evidence of a crime and the investigation into this case was terminated.