Bulgarian customs chief under investigation for money laundering

Bulgarian prosecutors have opened an investigation into officials, including new customs chief Petya Bankova and her deputy Lyudmil Marinov, as prosecutors claim to have evidence of smuggling, money laundering and bribery.

Seven people, including the new head of the office and her deputy, have been arrested in a joint operation by the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office, the new Bulgarian Anti-Corruption Agency and the State Agency for National Security.

Bulgarian Customs is a key institution that controls trade along the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the EU’s busiest land external border. The Bulgarian border serves the bulk of the EU’s trade in food and other goods with Asian countries and is one of the main transit routes for drugs into the EU.

“The Anti-Corruption Commission has opened a criminal case against an organised criminal group that has been carrying out smuggling, money laundering and bribery related to the Customs Agency,” the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office has said.

Prosecutors have launched searches of homes, cars, and customs offices. Bankova says she is the first victim of the new anti-corruption agency, and her lawyer, Adelina Natina, suspects a political link to the drug trade.

Bulgarian customs intercepted a shipment of 200 kg of cocaine at the major port of Burgas 10 days ago.

“The data that Petya Bankova has is that the drug money seized at the port of Burgas was to be used to buy elections – by whom, we have no information. It is unlikely that Ms Bankova will be able to continue to work in customs to uncover the criminal scheme,” Natina said.

The European Commission has criticised Bulgaria for a lack of convictions for high-level corruption, with Bulgarian authorities’ efforts often ending in raids and arrests without corrupt politicians necessarily facing prison time.

Outgoing Finance Minister Assen Vassilev, who appointed Bankova in February, said it was a move to intimidate the customs chief.

Political responsibility for managing Bulgaria’s customs lies with the pro-European PP-DB coalition, which was part of the collapsed ruling coalition in Bulgaria. The PP-DB said former partners from GERB and the DPS informally control the prosecution and security services, with the suspicion that they are doing so with the upcoming elections in mind.

Outgoing Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov announced that he had requested a report from the SANS counter-intelligence agency on the customs raid, but it was refused because he needed permission from the prosecutor’s office.

“What we know is that since Petya Bankova was appointed, Bulgaria has had a record amount of drug seizures. It is important to find out what is going on so that she does not end up being attacked (by prosecutors) for doing her job,” the prime minister said.

Denkov said that there were many rumours that SANS was covering up drug trafficking and that it was customs that was intercepting drugs passing through Bulgaria.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)

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