The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has started 23 investigations against persons who allegedly abused about EUR 1 M of funds from EU's program for education and training, "Leonardo da Vinci".

The news was reported Saturday by the Bulgarian National Radio, which points out that persons in question used completely or partly untrue data about the number the persons who were sent to study abroad under the Da Vinci program, or about the duration of their studies, in order to embezzle EU funds.

Each of the investigated projects funded through the Da Vinci program was for EUR 30 000-80 000.

The prosecution has also started an investigation of the organization, which is the intermediary between the Da Vinci program, and its beneficiaries, the Center for Development of Human Resources.

The Director of the Center Lyudmil Kovachev has been charged with failure to control the absorption of the funds.

The investigators have also discovered a number of other flaws in the absorption of Da Vinci program funds - administrative deficiency, conflicts of interests, and the provision of banking guarantees for high-risk projects.

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