Three people have been detained and six searches have been carried out in Bulgaria as part of an investigation into a criminal group that received illegal funding from EU agricultural funds.

The actions are at the request of the European Prosecutor's Office and the Main Directorate "Fighting Organized Crime" (GDBOP).

According to the investigation by GDBOP and State Agency "National Security", as well as the evidence and seized documents, the suspects gave false information on behalf of other people to the competent authorities in order to receive agricultural financing.

According to the evidence, instead of applying for money for large tracts of land, they divided it into smaller ones and then used people from the lower strata as front persons to apply for the funding.

The leader of the organized crime group has received permission to act as their representative before the state fund "Zemedelie" and the Municipal Office of Agriculture, as well as before the banks. So he directly took the funds they applied for and got full control over the projects.

The investigation also shows that two officials from the Agriculture Fund and the municipal service were probably part of the organized crime group.

It is assumed that they provided information and advice related to the operational program and the subsequent inspections during the implementation of the projects.

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