site.btaThree Former Interior Ministry Employees Get Prison Sentences for Large-Scale Theft

Three former Interior Ministry employees have been finally sentenced to seven years in prison each for the theft of tobacco products on a particularly large scale, the prosecution service said on Wednesday. The case was brought by the Sofia City Prosecution Office.

Each of the three will serve the sentence under an initial strict-security regime.

One of the defendants, identified by the initials E. H., headed the Economic Crime Department at the Pleven Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry. I. D. was a junior traffic police officer with the same directorate, while D. M. headed Pleven's Second Police Department and served as acting director of the Pleven Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry.

They were convicted of stealing 382,134 packs of cigarettes of various brands, which had been seized as material evidence in pre-trial proceedings. The cigarettes were worth a total of BGN 2,364,251.95.

The investigation was initially conducted by the Pleven District Prosecution Office before the Prosecutor General assigned its supervision to the Sofia City Prosecution Office.

At first instance, the Pleven District Court sentenced each of the three defendants to ten years in prison. The Veliko Tarnovo Court of Appeal subsequently reduced the sentences to seven years. In a final ruling dated August 14, the Supreme Court of Cassation upheld the appellate court's judgment.

In 2025, the Sofia City Prosecution Office and Sofia Regional Prosecution Office handled a total of 58,380 case files, resolving 55,773, or 95.53%, according to their annual activity report. Prosecutors at the two offices also supervised 64,854 pre-trial proceedings, of which 44,914, or 69.25%, were resolved. A total of 3,076 people were convicted or otherwise sanctioned by final court decisions, an increase from 2024.