ACF’s Annual Monitoring Report for 2023: Anti-Corruption Institutions at Freezing Point

For the sixth year in a row, the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation (ACF) has presented its report, titled Anti-Corruption Institutions 2023: a Freezing Point, on the efforts of public institutions to counteract high-level corruption.

Download Anti-Corruption Institutions 2023: a Freezing Point from here

The report analyses 57 key investigations into suspected corruption by the public prosecution, in addition to the work of the Commission for Anti-Corruption and the Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property (CAFIAP).

According to ACF legal experts and authors of the report, Andrey Yankulov and Daniela Peneva: “The past year has again confirmed that the real picture of high-level corruption in Bulgaria remains hidden because the criminal proceedings initiated by prosecutors do not reflect the actual levels of corrupt behaviour among high-ranking public officials.”

Based on the outcomes of these proceedings, it would appear that no high-level officials in the country have committed corruption crimes,” the authors concluded.

In 2023, no final court decisions were issued concerning any of the 57 high-level corruption investigations monitored for the report. For all the monitored cases, the final acquittals continue to considerably outnumber the final convictions (15 final acquittals to only four convictions).

This clearly shows the failing effectiveness of the prosecution in building and litigating cases successfully. A new trend for 2023 is the increase in the number of proceedings which failed to reach the court stage because they were terminated by prosecutors.

“In a nutshell, this year was characterized by a complete distancing from investigations into high-level corruption on behalf of the public prosecution,” said Yankulov, who authored the first part of the report, focusing on the work of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria.

The only exception from this trend was evident during a few weeks in May and June 2023, at the end of the mandate of Prosecutor General, Ivan Geshev, who was released from the post early.  During this period, the public prosecution sprung into action – although without success – against the parties calling for Geshev’s removal from office.”

In contrast to his predecessor, the newly-appointed Prosecutor General, Borislav Sarafov, has not been criticized by any of the political parties in the governing majority which had been agreed in 2023. Consequently, under his leadership, until the end of the year, the public prosecution forgot the issue of high-level corruption.  A number of criminal proceedings directly or indirectly linked with individuals from the political majority (or persons linked with them) – including the proceedings initiated at the end of Ivan Geshev’s term in office – were either terminated or customarily forgotten.

It was not until 2024, after the dissolution of the governing majority comprised of “We Continue the Change” – “Yes, Bulgaria” and GERB (MRF), that the public prosecution resumed its traditional role, using its well-known tactic of politically motivated and widely-publicized criminal proceedings on the grounds of suspected corruption crimes.

Last year, the short-lived and diverse governing majority introduced some legislative changes concerning the criminal justice system and the effort to counteract high-level political corruption with the tools of criminal law. The most significant steps in this regard were the amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, and the new Act on Preventing and Fighting Corruption.

A major share of these reforms was initiated in the absence of a pre-determined and overall concept. What was also missing was an analysis of what necessitated the changes and what were the intended results. Within the legislative process, there was significant uncertainty about the final versions of the legal texts eventually supported by the majority.

“Despite all the criticism against these new legal initiatives, they still represent a small, timid step forward in reforming Bulgaria’s criminal justice system. However, lasting change in the manner in which public authority is exercised in Bulgaria can be created by the cumulative impact of robust legislation and its effective and impartial implementation which applies to all parties equally and respects the comprehensive goals and the full meaning of the legislative texts. In this regard, the latest reforms are yet to be implemented in a comprehensive manner – something which is new in Bulgaria’s still fragile democracy – and have so far remained something that exists on paper,” concluded Yankulov.