site.btaCustoms Inspector Detained with over BGN 110,000 in Bribes, Sofia District Prosecutor's Office Says

The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office announced at a briefing on Monday that a customs inspector from the town of Dragoman, Western Bulgaria, has been arrested with over BGN 110,000 in bribes. Last Thursday, a trader importing metals from China, processed in Turkiye, for which he had the relevant documents, arrived at the Dragoman checkpoint on the border with Serbia. At the customs office, he gave about BGN 1,000 to the employee to process the documents quickly, without checking them and without testing the metals. Immediately afterwards, officers from the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime searched the office and found the money, acting Sofia District Prosecutor Natalia Nikolova announced at the briefing. She added that during the investigation, 11 searches of people, cars, and homes were conducted. About BGN 110,000 in bribes were found in the customs officer's home.

According to Nikolova, an urgent court application was filed. The Sofia District Court placed the employee under house arrest because he was caring for his seriously ill father. The prosecution is expected to appeal the decision.

"Steel imports into the EU are regulated to prevent low-value goods from entering and affecting the market. This type of fraud is not new to the Customs Agency. There are high-risk profiles in customs declarations. When such a person arrives, samples are taken from the goods, and a thorough inspection is carried out. In this case there was an attempt to avoid the taking of samples for laboratory testing and the imposing of 36% duty on the material," Plamen Pavlov, Deputy Director of the Customs Agency explained.

Ivan Koev, head of the Anti-Corruption Division at the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, added that the investigation into the case began a year ago. "On November 13, we had information that this customs officer would accept a bribe. Customs officers and customs agents working together enter false data in customs declarations. According to the information we had, goods, whose origin would be changed to avoid paying the relevant customs duties, would arrive at the Dragoman customs. Most likely, similar practices exist in other parts of the country," Koev added.

According to the Director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, Chief Commissioner Boyan Raev, the material is currently being analysed.