The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) have announced that they want to see a conviction in the trial against Mario Nikolov, accused of draining money from the EU SAPARD program, before the end of March, the Bulgarian daily newspaper �Sega' reported Friday.

OLAF's head Elizabeth Sperber announced that this case will be a clear indicator of how well the Bulgarian justice system works.

Sperber stated; "We'll be very disappointed if the trial ends up without convictions, because Nikolov's accomplices in Germany have already been sentenced. And their guilt was the lesser. We expect to see the �impartiality' of the Bulgarian judiciary overcoming the recklessness and the price lists."

Nikolov's trial began on February 19; he is accused of numerous violations of the EU SAPARD program. The Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office is charging him an eight other defendants with the illegal draining of over EUR 8 M from the European fund.

While the siphoning of millions of euros from the SAPARD funds was investigated as early as 2007, Mario Nikolov became truly notorious in June 2008 when a report by the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF was leaked to the Bulgarian media.

The report referred to Nikolov and his partner Lyudmil Stoykov as the leaders of the "Nikolov-Stoykov" group, which was allegedly involved in a number of corruption schemes and enjoying political protection.

The OLAF Report also exposed the two businessmen as sponsors of the election campaign of Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov.

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