site.btaCC-DB Propose Legislative Changes to Impose Global Magnitsky Act Sanctions in Bulgaria

The Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgarian (CC-DB) parliamentary group has tabled draft amendments to the corresponding laws to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act and other sanctions in Bulgaria, Bozhidar Bozhanov MP of CC-DB told journalists here on Thursday. The goal is to guarantee the financial system's security, limit the risks of money laundering, and increase the probability of Bulgaria being removed from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), he explained.

One of the proposed sanctions is to not give public property to parties in whose leadership there are sanctioned individuals, as is the case with MRF - New Beginning leader Delyan Peevski. The sanctions will also apply to connected persons, so that all networks around Peevski would not be able to operate freely in Bulgaria's banking and financial system, Bozhanov said.

"There are other countries that have developed their own legislation in relation to the Magnitsky sanctions. We are introducing these sanctions in Bulgaria because the US and the UK are partner countries and we rely on their intelligence data," the MP added.

Lena Borislavova MP of CC-DB  described as unacceptable that persons who have been implicated by several countries for corruption on a particularly large scale have access to public resources and public funds. She said her group expect support from all parties who have declared themselves in favour of removing Bulgaria from the grey list and do not have sanctioned members. That excludes GERB and MRF - New Beginning, she specified.