The Sofia Regional Court Friday found Valentin Dimitrov, former CEO of the Sofia District Heating Company, guilty as charged of a violation of Bulgaria's exchange control regulations and sentenced him to five years' imprisonment.

According to the indictment, Dimitrov, in his capacity as Managing Director of PRO MARK EOOD, violated exchange control regulations by failing to declare to the Bulgarian National Bank numerous transactions aggregating 18.9 million euro (or 37 million leva) for the needs of balance-of-payments statistics in Sofia between November 25, 2003 and July 1, 2006.

Dimitrov was acquitted of another charge, according to which he effected lending and securities transactions worth nearly 381,000 US dollars and close to 2.2 million euro in violation of Bulgaria's exchange control legislation in Kufstein, Austria, between October 20, 1999 and June 25, 2003.

In a separate court proceeding, initiated in June 2006, Dimitrov is charged with gross embezzlement, and this case is still in progress.

Photo: BGNES