Bulgaria sacked Tuesday the deputy head of its State Agriculture Fund, over charges that he had taken a bribe.
"We will not allow the future of Bulgarian agriculture in EU to be marred by such actions," Agriculture Minister Nihat Kabil.
Unofficial reports said Tuesday that the Krassimir Nedelchev case was linked to one of the SAPARD projects he was involved with.
Kabil and the Agriculture Fund's head, Assen Drumev, have signed an order for the dismissal of Nedelchev, the media revealed.
Earlier in the day it emerged that Nedelchev was charged with pocketing about EUR 183 000.
He is on an EUR 8 000 bail as the investigation continues.
News about the deputy's suspected crime followed recent revelations of Bulgarian abusing SAPARD money.
Bulgarians have cheated the European Union's pre-accession programmes with EUR 9 M, the Interior Ministry revealed in the end of April. Minister Rumen Petkov was talking about cases of siphoning cash from SAPARD and PHARE.