Bulgaria's prosecuting magistracy has launched a new investigation against businessman Mario Nikolov and several other persons, again in connection with abuse of money from EU funds, prosecutor Margarita Popova told journalists on Tuesday.

She specified that apart from Nikolov, there are several more people in the group, part of whom are identical with the defendants in a pending case before the Sofia City Court.

Charges cannot be brought yet because answers to rogatory commissions from the Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany are awaited, Popova added. She said that "illegitimate offers" were involved in this case. As she put it, not a single proceeding has obtained information of money having been remitted to political parties.

Prosecutor General Boris Velchev said that a money laundering investigation against businessman Lyudmil Stoikov has been completed, and the indictment is expected to be submitted to court shortly.

Controversial businessmen Mario Nikolov and Lyudmil Stoykov were detained a year and a half ago after the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) alerted the Bulgarian authorities that they had drained 7.5 million euro of SAPARD funds. Nikolov and Stoykov, as well as other four persons suspected as their accomplices, were released shortly after that and the fraud charges against Stoykov were dropped, but he remained a defendant in a money laundering case.

The Prosecutor General said that because of the "special situation" in Doupnitsa (Southwestern Bulgaria), the several high-profile cases against persons based there are investigated by the Sofia Prosecution Office. After a check of the Doupnitsa Regional Prosecution Office, a number of terminated investigations have been resumed. Besides this, Sofia Appellate Prosecutor Vicho Vichev has ordered a more thoroughgoing revision of the performance of the investigating magistrates in Doupnitsa.

According to Velchev, prosecutors and control authorities do not have a good dialog. Very few cases have been instituted on alerts from the control authorities, he said.

Regarding the forthcoming elections of administrative heads of prosecution offices countrywide, Velchev said he will avail himself of the opportunity he has under the law to make his nominations. "Still, it is not right if a magistrate has headed, say, a district prosecution office for two terms of office in a row is elected to the same post yet again, even in another town," he reasoned.

Source: BTA