Sofia Court Postpones Decision on Extradition of Technomarket Co-founder to Italy

Crime | August 3, 2015, Monday // 17:37
Bulgaria: Sofia Court Postpones Decision on Extradition of Technomarket Co-founder to Italy Nikolay Kitov, photo by BGNES

The Sofia City Court has postponed by a month the decision on the extradition to Italy of Nikolay Kitov, Member of the Board of Directors of Bulgarian consumer electronics retailer Technomarket.

Kitov, who faces tax fraud charges, was arrested in Sofia on July 7. A few days after the arrest, he was released on a bail of BGN 10 000.

The judge panel of the Sofia City Court sided with the claim of the defense that Italian authorities had not presented sufficient information about the facts related to Kitov’s participation in the offense over which his extradition has been requested.

The Sofia-based court ruled that the facts listed in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued for Kitov were also insufficient, according to the BGNES news agency.

The Sofia City Court requested a new translation of the EAW into Bulgarian, siding with the claim of the defense that the existing document contained ambiguities and uncertainties.

Under the ruling, Italy is also to provide additional information about the provisions of its Criminal Code under which Kitov has been charged.

The Sofia-based court also ruled that Italy had to guarantee that after the hearing in Italy Kitov would be returned to Bulgaria to serve the detention on remand and the potential sentence in Bulgaria.

The Sofia City Court scheduled the next hearing for September 14.

Kitov has been released on a bail of BGN 10 000.

He told journalists that the case targeted Bulgarian export in general because it criminalized the activity of Bulgarian exporters.

Kitov commented that allowing this to happen would be an unprecedented occurrence which would deal a blow to all export companies in Bulgaria.

He specified that Technomarket exported items to Italy and to EU countries VAT free.

“Sales between companies based in the EU are VAT-free, meaning that the Bulgarian company stands no chance of stealing VAT,” he underscored.

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Tags: Nikolay Kitov, Technomarket, EAW, european arrest warrant, tax fraud, tax evasion, VAT, VAT fraud, Sofia City Court, extradition

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