site.btaProsecuting Magistracy Launches Investigation over "Golden Passports" Scheme
SC 10:26:31 07-02-2022
KK1023.105
105 JUSTICE - PROSECUTING MAGISTRACY - PASSPORTS - INVESTIGATION
Prosecuting Magistracy
Launches Investigation over
"Golden Passports" Scheme
Sofia, February 7 (BTA) - The Supreme Administrative Prosecution Office launched an investigation over the so-called "Golden Passports" scheme, following an alert by an MP of the opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the prosecution service said in a press release here on Monday.
MRF referred to the prosecution office an alert they have received about suspicious cases of granting Bulgarian citizenship or residence permits in exchange for investments. According to MRF Deputy Floor Leader Hamid Hamid, the alert named over 120 persons, mainly Chinese (including some working for the Chinese special services) and Russians, who had obtained residence permits in the 2015-2021 period under false pretence. They remitted an identical amount of money through a particular bank and were granted residence just by submitting photocopies of these statements of account, Hamid told a news briefing in Parliament on Friday.
The prosecution service also referred to the State Agency for National Security, Justice Ministry, InvestBulgaria Agency and Migration Directorate who will also have to investigate the alert. If irregularities are found, the prosecution service will alert the president, as he has jurisdiction to cancel Bulgarian citizenship through naturalization.
On February 2, the National Assembly Legal Affairs Committee approved on first reading a bill abolishing the passports of convenience scheme.
Most foreigners who allegedly have bought Bulgarian "golden passports" have only deposited money in an account in a bank in Bulgaria, which they can withdraw immediately after getting the proof of citizenship. Nobody has bought a real business. Some have purchased government securities which, too, qualify as an eligible investment for naturalization purposes, and many of them have sold back the securities, while those who kept them have received dividends.
Bulgarian passports are attractive to non-EU citizens because they enable them to travel freely in the EU. RY/KK
/КК/
KK1023.105
105 JUSTICE - PROSECUTING MAGISTRACY - PASSPORTS - INVESTIGATION
Prosecuting Magistracy
Launches Investigation over
"Golden Passports" Scheme
Sofia, February 7 (BTA) - The Supreme Administrative Prosecution Office launched an investigation over the so-called "Golden Passports" scheme, following an alert by an MP of the opposition Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), the prosecution service said in a press release here on Monday.
MRF referred to the prosecution office an alert they have received about suspicious cases of granting Bulgarian citizenship or residence permits in exchange for investments. According to MRF Deputy Floor Leader Hamid Hamid, the alert named over 120 persons, mainly Chinese (including some working for the Chinese special services) and Russians, who had obtained residence permits in the 2015-2021 period under false pretence. They remitted an identical amount of money through a particular bank and were granted residence just by submitting photocopies of these statements of account, Hamid told a news briefing in Parliament on Friday.
The prosecution service also referred to the State Agency for National Security, Justice Ministry, InvestBulgaria Agency and Migration Directorate who will also have to investigate the alert. If irregularities are found, the prosecution service will alert the president, as he has jurisdiction to cancel Bulgarian citizenship through naturalization.
On February 2, the National Assembly Legal Affairs Committee approved on first reading a bill abolishing the passports of convenience scheme.
Most foreigners who allegedly have bought Bulgarian "golden passports" have only deposited money in an account in a bank in Bulgaria, which they can withdraw immediately after getting the proof of citizenship. Nobody has bought a real business. Some have purchased government securities which, too, qualify as an eligible investment for naturalization purposes, and many of them have sold back the securities, while those who kept them have received dividends.
Bulgarian passports are attractive to non-EU citizens because they enable them to travel freely in the EU. RY/KK
/КК/
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