Bulgaria’s Specialized Criminal Court has released Hristo Hristov, Mayor of Varna’s Mladost residential district, on a bail of BGN 3000.

Hristov was arrested early on August 13 on suspicion of participating in real estate fraud schemes.

Charges were pressed against Hristo Hristov, Martin Petrov, Borislav Komanchev, Diyana Alexandrova and Veselina Spasova. Petrov and Alexandrova were placed in custody, Komanchev was released, while Spasova, the alleged leader of the crime group, failed to appear in court, citing illness, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

According to the preliminary version of the indictment, the property fraud scheme was in force since the beginning of 2010, but there is also data pointing to cases dated in 2004.

The crime group engaged in fraud schemes with agricultural and urban real estate. By using front men, they paid property tax for a period of five years back as the real owners of the pieces of real estate had not paid them.

Then, using false witnesses, they proved their ownership of the property before a notary on the basis of the lapse of the statute of limitations. Later on, the property was resold.