Bulgaria's SAPARD Fraud Trial Faces Re-launch

Crime | March 19, 2012, Monday // 15:34
Bulgaria: Bulgaria's SAPARD Fraud Trial Faces Re-launch Judge Krasimira Medarova has self-recused from the SAPARD fraud trial. Photo by BGNES

The trial against notorious Bulgarian businessmen Mario Nikolov and Lyudmil Stoykov, who are charged with large-scale SAPARD fraud in the amount of over EUR 7 M, will be restarted from scratch at the second-instance court.

The embezzlement trial will be re-launched at the Sofia Appellate Court after reporting judge Krasimira Medarova decided to self-recuse.

Medarova's withdrawal was requested by the defense counsel over rumors of a political commitment on her part concerning the pronouncement of guilty verdicts.

This is the third recusal of judges on the case after Biser Troyanov and Petya Shishkova, according to reports of news portal mediapool.bg.

Valentin Angelov, the attorney representing one of the defendants, said that his colleague Rumen Elenski had refused to take the case after learning that the outcome of the case had been pre-determined.

Elenski was said to have learned about Medarova's commitment from her husband who had been his client.

Although no evidence could be found in support of the allegations and Elenski withdrew his previous statement, Kalin Kalpakchiev, chair of the judges panel on the case, explained the removal of Medarova with the need to ensure public trust in the judiciary.

The proceedings will start anew after a new reporting judge is assigned to the case.

In the summer of 2010, Rumyana Chengelova, judge at the Sofia City Court (SCC) acquitted Stoykov and declared the other eight defendants guilty.

Marko Nikolov was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of BGN 30 000 for document fraud and abuse of SAPARD funds.

Mario's wife Mariyana received an 8-year prison sentence and the other 4 defendants were handed 6 year jail sentences and fines of BGN 30 000.

The case is considered a crucial test for Bulgaria's justice system, monitored by the EU and OLAF – the European Commission's anti-fraud office.

According to the indictment, the defendants created a secret association through which they sent millions from SAPARD to other companies controlled by Nikolov and Stoykov.

Nikolov and Stoykov were both sponsors of now-former President Georgi Parvanov's elections campaign.

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Tags: Krasimira Medarova, SAPARD, fraud, Sofia Appellate Court, Sofia City Court, OLAF, Rumen Elenski, Mario Nikolov, Lyudmil Stoykov

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