site.btaNational Revenue Agency Suspends Two Employees Arrested for Bribery in Chernomorets

The National Revenue Agency (NRA) has initiated disciplinary proceedings and will temporarily suspend two of its employees who were arrested on suspicion of soliciting and accepting a bribe during an inspection of a commercial outlet in Chernomorets, NRA Communications Director Anna Mitova said at a briefing in Burgas on Sunday.

According to agency data, the Sozopol Regional Police Department received a report from an outlet manager in Chernomorets at around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The manager stated that two NRA employees conducting an inspection at the outlet had demanded EUR 300 to issue a non-compliance act for only one of the violations found, rather than all of them. The two officials were detained by police after the money was handed over.

Mitova said that the NRA management has zero tolerance for any forms of corruption and is fully cooperating with the prosecution and investigating authorities. She noted that the agency would honour the citizen who reported the incident via the 112 emergency number. "We rely on citizens to report any suspicions of corruption. This is the correct way to counteract such cases," Mitova said.

She added that the NRA employs around 8,000 people and the actions of one or two individuals should not be used to judge the performance of the entire administration.

Dimitar Dimitrov, Head of the Operative Activities Department in Burgas under the Fiscal Control Directorate General, described the incident as a serious blow to the agency's reputation."Every suspicion of corrupt practices is treated with utmost seriousness. Such actions cast a shadow over the work of all other employees who perform their duties honestly and professionally," Dimitrov said.

The agency specified that one of the detained employees is from the territorial directorate in Burgas, while the other was seconded from Plovdiv to carry out summer control operations along the Black Sea coast.

During the briefing, it was explained that inspections of commercial outlets are assigned via an automated system. This system selects the venues based on predetermined criteria and distributes the inspection teams to mitigate the risk of corrupt practices.