A three-judge panel of the Yambol District Court has issued a suspended sentence of two years and six months with three years of probation to Yordan Lechkov, football legend and former Mayor of Sliven.

Lechkov faces charges of malfeasance in office which resulted in substantial damage for the municipal budget.

Lechkov is said to have allowed four private companies to use municipal property for a period of around 2 years without holding a public procurement or without asking them to pay rent, thereby inflicting damages to the municipality worth nearly BGN 1 M.

Another panel of the Yambol District Court closed the same malfeasance in office case against Lechkov with a three-year suspended sentence with three years of probation in end-2011.

However, Lechkov appealed, and the Appellate Court in the Black Sea city of Burgas revoked the ruling of the Yambol District Court due to substantial breaches of procedural rules.

The case was then handed to a new judge panel at the Yambol District Court chaired by Judge Georgi Karabadzhakov.

The proceedings lasted two days, with 20 hearings of witnesses and two expert witnesses.

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