Parliament Passes at First Reading Reforms on Forfeiture of Illegally Obtained Assets

Nikolay Zabov

Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev in Parliament, Sofia, July 18, 2025 (BTA Photo/Vladimir Shokov)

Sofia,

18.07.2025 16:03

(BTA)

Parliament adopted on Friday at first reading amendments to the Penal Code regulating the forfeiture of property obtained from criminal activity by third parties in bad faith. The amendments were approved with 110 votes in favour, eight against and 44 abstentions. The bill was introduced by the Council of Ministers.

Its adoption implements the recommendations of the report of the fifth evaluation round of the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism of the Council of Europe, the report of the parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs specified.

Bulgarian criminal legislation did not allow the securing and forfeiture of proceeds of crime by third parties in bad faith. The draft law provides for legal procedure for the protection of the rights of third parties in securing and confiscating property.

It is proposed that the requirement to record computer data on paper be abolished in cases of computer crime. Seized computer data will be included in the case as electronic evidence and processed by the competent authorities.

A procedure for seizing crypto-assets as an object or means of a crime is also established, so that they can be stored for the purpose of proceedings. Minister of Justice Georgi Georgiev said the latest third package of amendments to the Penal Code was being voted on, which, if passed in the second reading before parliament's recess, could be reported as implemented to take Bulgaria off the grey list of countries for money laundering.

The first reform is the possibility of confiscation of property acquired by third parties in bad faith as a result of criminal activity. Georgiev said that this amendment is about the confiscation of property from third parties who knew that this property was acquired through criminal activity. He added that Bulgarian criminal law is being modernized to introduce measures regarding crypto-assets. There is no such procedural order under Bulgarian law at the moment, and pretending that crypto-assets do not exist in the 21st century is frivolous, the Minister said. The third amendment relates to the Criminal Procedure Code which currently requires that when computer equipment is seized, everything that is on it must be printed to be admitted into the case. Georgiev said: "We are introducing electronic evidence to give law enforcement effective opportunities to do their job."

/RY/