site.btaProsecutors Probe Alleged Hotel Extortion Scheme on Black Sea Coast

Hotel owners on Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast were allegedly forced to pay “protection fees” to avoid repeated inspections and water supply cuts, Miroslav Iliev, Deputy Head of the Burgas District Prosecutor’s Office, said here Friday in connection with an investigation into an alleged organized crime group involving four suspects, including two former senior officials at the Burgas Water and Sewerage Company. 

Iliev said that the scheme relied on manipulated water metres installed at hotels, with devices allegedly recording significantly lower water consumption than was actually used, while hotel owners paid the difference in cash to members of the group. Prosecutors said the payments ranged from BGN 10,000 to BGN 30,000 per hotel and were made either monthly or once per tourist season, depending on the size of the property and visitor numbers.

Investigators believe between 30 and 50 hotels may have been involved, with most located in the Sunny Beach resort and the nearby village of Ravda in Nessebar Municipality. Hotels that refused to pay allegedly faced inspections that uncovered the manipulated metres, followed by official reports, demands to settle outstanding water bills, and, if payment was not made, the suspension of water service.

“If you cut off water to a hotel in the middle of the tourist season, the result could be bankruptcy. That was the mechanism of the extortion,” Iliev told reporters. He said that four people have been charged in the case, including Hristo Shirokov, who prosecutors allege received the collected funds. Authorities said it has not yet been established whether he led the group or whether its members operated with pre-assigned roles.

The investigation in the case is ongoing. Prosecutors said additional evidence is being gathered and hotel owners and managers will be questioned to determine the full extent of the alleged scheme. They added that it is too early to comment on possible penalties as the case remains in its early stages and the court has yet to rule on requests to keep some of the suspects in custody.