"There are at least 10 000 undeclared residential properties in Sofia and their owners do not pay taxes," said National Revenue Agency (NRA) Director Krassimir Stefanov in a Bulgarian National Radio interview on Sunday.

Since October, the NRA has been carrying out checks from the air over Sofia, some big cities and luxury holiday villages across the country in order to identify undeclared properties.

The Agency will continue its aerial inspections over Sofia, Plovdiv and the Black Sea Region. A couple of checks are scheduled over the northern region of Veliko Turnovo. Stefanov said that his agency is targeting luxurious properties and their owners.

Checks in Sofia alone are expected to bring in 10 million leva. Nearly all residential properties are recorded as company property. Of the 250 houses checked across the country, over 90 per cent are registered on behalf of businesses, said Stefanov.

According to the NRA Director, the activities of his agency will bring in the targeted 12 billion revenues in taxes for the Exchequer.

Stefanov did not rule out a check into the properties of Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov after the Order, Lawfulness and Justice (OLJ) party accused him of corruption.

"The NRA treats all people equally and no one is above the law. If there is evidence, the NRA will investigate Tsvetanov's case," vowed Stefanov.

Earlier in the week, the OLJ party disclosed that in 2007 and 2008, Tsvetanov acquired properties, worth 462,000 leva. On Friday, OLJ leader Yane Yanev called for a parliamentary inquiry committee to check Tsvetanov's property status. On Sunday, Yanev urged the NRA to do this as well.

"I have declared everything that I own. I have six flats and I have nothing to hide," said Sunday Tsvetanov on Nova TV, explaining that some have been inherited from his parents and his wife's parents.

Source: BTA