Mario Nikolov has been sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined BGN 30 000 over document fraud and misusue of SAPARD Funds.

The Prosecution had requested the maximum sentence possible of 15 years in jail for Mario Nikolov and Lyudmil Stoykov, who were charged with massive SAPARD fraud. Stoykov however was found not guilty and was set free by the Sofia City Court.

The Prosecution requested that the other 5 defendants in the case be given minimum or average sentences, including Mario's wife Mariana - she received an 8-year prison sentence. The other 4 defendents were handed out 6 year jail sentences and BGN 30 000 fines.

According to the oral submissions of the prosecutor, the defendants created a structured secret association through which they sent over BGN 12 M from SAPARD to other companies controlled by Nikolov and Stoykov. The state prosecution also requested property and other material items to be confiscated from the defendants.

Nikolov and Stoykov, who were both sponsors of President Parvanov’s campaign at the last Bulgarian presidential election, face charges relating to the alleged defrauding of SAPARD European agricultural funds to the tune of EUR 7,5 M. They, along with the other defendants, received funding of EUR 14 M for fraudulent projects in the period 2002-20005, according to the charges brought against them.

The legal process was provoked by revelations of the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF, according to which a group of 60 Bulgarian, foreign and offshore organization that had links with the previous government, led by Sergey Stanishev, and had participated in tax fraud and money laundering.

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