The scope of the illegal assets probe in Bulgaria has been shortened from 15 to 10 years by Parliament.

Bulgaria's Parliament adopted Wednesday at second reading amendments to the law on confiscation of illegally acquired assets.

Under the amendments, the Commission for the Identification and Forfeiture of Criminal Assets (CEPACA) will be authorized to trace the source of assets up to ten years back, according to reports of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

The CEPACA has the power to freeze property and assets if it establishes a significant discrepancy (over BGN 250 000) between the net income of the person under investigation and their property.

The amendments were initiated by Emil Radev, Krasimir Tsipov, and Svetoslav Tonchev, MPs of center-right ruling party GERB.

Radev, Tsipov, and Tonchev, as cited by dnevnik.bg, argued that the 10-year term was in line with the motives of the Constitutional Court (KS), which declared some of the provisions of the illegal asset forfeiture law unconstitutional.

Bulgaria's Constitutional Court revoked ruled unconstitutional the provision that the state loses the right to confiscate assets after the expiration of the 15-year statute of limitations starting from the day of acquisition of the asset.

MPs then decided to reinstate the 10-year statute of limitations.

After KS had declared three provisions of the illegal assets bill unconstitutional, 58 MPs of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party claimed that another three provisions were also to be declared unconstitutional.

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