Alexander Tomov, former president of the CSKA Sofia football club and former CEO of the Kremikovtzi steel plant, was sentenced Wednesday to a total of 9 years in jail for embezzlement.

The Sofia City Court sentenced Tomov for document fraud and large-scale embezzlement while he was in the management of the now bankrupt steel mill. Another defendant, Ivan Ivanov, received the same sentence, while Bozhko Bonev was acquitted on the same charges.

Tomov and Ivanov are found to have grabbed hold of real estate properties and equipment worth EUR 7.05 M belonging to what was once Bulgaria's largest steel plant.

The original charges against Tomov were for the embezzlement of a total of EUR 36 M from Kremikovtzi and CSKA Sofia combined; however, the court recognized only the embezzlement of EUR 7 M. The prosecution had asked for a 15-year sentence stating that Tomov's case was a large-scale embezzlement.

Tomov was acquitted on charges of draining EUR 3.5 M from the CSKA football club, whose president he was at about the same time that he was in charge of Kremikovtzi. The other defendant facing the same charges with respect to the CSKA Sofia football club, Alexander Garibov, was acquitted.

Tomov blames the former PM and leader of the now opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Sergey Stanishev, and the former socialist Economy Minister, Petar Dimtirov, for the mill's bankruptcy.