Тhe ACF asks institutions to broaden corruption investigation

The case which attracts the attention of the ACF started on May 30th with the public arrest of a registry judge convicted of bribery. The investigation is concentrated on a detected bribery activity which involved notary offices. According to the publicly available information, notary offices were blackmailed to pay to the judge for faster and timely registry procedure – including entering of the data from the notary deeds in the official property registry. According to the Bulgarian property law system, the time of registration of the notary deeds is crucial for the protection of property rights against all third parties.

Notwithstanding the notary offices were involved in the bribery, to this moment, only the registry judge is convicted, while the notaries remain outside the scope of investigation. They are considered “victims” of the criminal activity of the judge, and notaries are not investigated as accomplices in the corruption crime.
The ACF submits signals to the Ministry of Justice, the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council, and to the Notary Chamber to examine and investigate the role of the notaries in the corruption scheme and to trigger disciplinary proceedings.

According to the Bulgarian Criminal Code, the bribery is a crime for which both sides are responsible. In this case, actions of the Prosecution Office to convict only the registry judge and to close investigation with respect to the notaries, do not correspond to the publicly given information. These criminal proceeding need to be further monitored with respect to the involvement of notaries.