The Anti-Corruption Fund referred the agreement about “the full support of the State Commission on Gambling” from the Bozhkov and Domuschiev’s memo to the Prosecutor’s Office

The Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) referred to the Prosecutor General the agreement for “the full support of the State Commission on Gambling,” contained in a recently published memo of a meeting between the accused Vasil Bozhkov and the businessman Kiril Domuschiev. The referral was an addendum to a previous referral to the Prosecutor General from 16.05.2020, in which the ACF called for an inspection of the alleged text message exchange between Vasil Bozhkov and the Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov.

According to the text of the document published on 18.05.2020, Mr. Bozhkov committed to buying advertising time and possibly compensating Nova TV or the “Ludogorets” football club in case they lost advertising deals with other customers. In return to this commitment, Mr. Bozhkov had to receive “the full support of the SCG in regularizing his business so that it complied with the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria.” In a statement, Mr. Domuschiev has confirmed the authenticity of the document claimed by the publisher.

“We believe that the alleged negotiation between the businessmen Bozhkov and Domuschiev concerning support from an independent state regulatory body is a circumstance that should be subject to serious scrutiny by the institution you head,” the ACF’s signal to the Prosecutor General reads.

According to the ACF, this negotiation should not be examined in isolation, but in the light of:

– the State Commission on Gambling’s structural affiliation to the Ministry of Finance and the Minister of Finance’s significant role in determining its members.

– the allegations of the accused Vasil Bozhkov that he had communicated exclusively with the Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov about the regulation of his gambling business.

– the alleged offenses committed by officials from the commission in question (for which they are being prosecuted) leading to alleged defrauding of the state budget amounting to hundreds of millions of leva due to uncollected fees from Mr. Bozhkov’s companies.

– the inspection, initiated in November 2018 by the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office, of the fact that since 2012 the Minister of Finance and his family occupied a luxury apartment without paying rent to its owner, a businessman and the Minister’s godfather. The apartment is allegedly situated in a gated community built by a company associated with Mr. Domuschiev. So far, despite the ACF’s inquiries from 11.02.2020 and 06.03.2020, the Prosecutor’s office has not provided any information on the result of the inspection.

According to the Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation, the information made public so far provide a substantial indication for a wide range of possible corruption crimes committed by high-level public officials.

The ACF believes that the Prosecutor’s Office should carry out a full examination of all the circumstances surrounding the alleged communication between Vasil Bozhkov and Vladislav Goranov, as well as the alleged agreements between Vasil Bozhkov and Kiril Domuschiev about influencing an independent state regulatory body.