Provisions of Bulgaria's Illegal Assets Law Declared Unconstitutional

Politics » DOMESTIC | May 31, 2013, Friday // 15:21
Bulgaria: Provisions of Bulgaria's Illegal Assets Law Declared Unconstitutional Photo by bnr.bg

Bulgaria's Constitutional Court (KS) has declared provisions of the Law on Forfeiture in Favor of the State of Illegally Acquired Assets unconstitutional.

The provisions involve the appeal of the decisions of the Commission for the Identification and Forfeiture of Criminal Assets (CEPACA), according to reports of investor.bg.

The provisions were referred to the Constitutional Court by MPs of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) from the previous Parliament in November 2012.

This is the second revision of the illegal assets law triggered by a decision of KS.

In end-2012, following a decision of KS, Bulgaria's 41st National Assembly reduced the period of the illegal assets probe from 15 to 10 years back.

As regards the appeal procedure, the provisions say that the decisions of the CEPACA are appealed before administrative courts, while the claims on the confiscation of the illegal assets are filed with civil courts.

MPs of the previous 41st National Assembly, however, insisted that only administrative courts were competent to come up with rulings on the matter.

According to the Constitutional Court, the option of different types of courts exercising control over the same type of decisions of the CEPACA creates preconditions for contradictory and mutually exclusive court rulings.

As a result, the appealed ruling creates legal uncertainty, KS says.

The Constitutional Court has overturned the request of the socialist MPs to declare unconstitutional a provision restricting the participation of affected persons within the circle of acquaintances of the defendant in the trial.

The socialist MPs insisted that by barring close acquaintances of the defendant from participating in the trial, the law endangered the rights of affected persons.

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Tags: Constitutional Court, illegal assets, confiscation of illegally acquired assets, Bulgarian Parliament, Bulgarian Socialist Party

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