An employee of the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency (NRA) has been arrested in Sofia and arraigned on charges of participation in VAT draining.

The information was reported Tuesday by Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov. The detainee is an auditor working in the NRA Directorate of Sofia's “Oborishte” district.

Darik radio reports his name as Ivan Manikatov, 30. He was arrested during a joint operation of the Sofia criminal police and NRA and had provided information and insight to a criminal group dealing with tax evasion of BGN millions through Value Added Tax (VAT) and fake invoices, even using names of deceased individuals.

Manikatov has been fired from NRA, while its Head, Krasimir Stefanov, issued a stern warning to all employees that there are signals about violations involving others in the Agency and that he is fully collaborating with auditories.

Tsvetanov told Darik radio the Tuesday arrest is a follow-up of another operation during which 4 individuals have been detained in January.

Unnamed sources further informed Darik radio the busted employee had drained nearly BGN half million and had been part of an organized crime group involved in tax crimes in Sofia.

Increased police presence is reported in the “Oborishte” district with teams searching and raiding several addresses.