8 arrested for misuse of EU funds under agricultural programmes in Petrich

A large-scale operation by the Directorate General for Combating Organised Crime (DGCOC) and the European Prosecutor's Office revealed abuse of EU funds under agricultural programmes in the town of Petrich.

In 2020, the DGCOC-MoI acquired data that on the territory of the municipality of Petrich, Blagoevgrad region, an organised criminal group was operating, carrying out criminal activities consisting in the illegal provision and use of subsidies for the cultivation of agricultural crops, pastures, animal breeding programmes, as well as operational programmes for the use of pastures and meadows.

According to the information received, some of the persons who for years have been illegally receiving and managing funds in the form of subsidies granted to Bulgaria from European Union funds, as well as winning projects under operational programmes are: the Head of “Agriculture” Municipal Office in the town of Petrich, other employees of the Municipal Office, their relatives and close persons.

It has been established that every year the persons carrying out the above criminal activity progressively increase the declared areas and animals, respectively the amounts they receive in the form of subsidies also increase.

The Head of the “Agriculture” Municipal Office in Petrich and his brother have managed to acquire, by means of deeds of authentication, more than 40 000 decares. It has been established that two persons involved in the criminal group have received in the last 5 calendar years money in particularly large amounts in the form of subsidies (over BGN 600,000).

In connection with the above and in order to prevent, intecept, detect and document in full the illegal activities carried out, a specialised police operation was carried out on 29 June in cooperation with the officers of DGCOC sector - Blagoevgrad, the DGCOC sector - Kyustendil, the DGCOC sector - Sofia city, the DGCOC sector - Sofia region and the DGCOC sector - Pernik.

In the course of the conducted activities 4 searches of persons and search and seizure of 7 cars and lorries were carried out, as well as search and seizure of 6 addresses on the territory of the municipality of Petrich and municipality. Sandanski, including the premises of the Municipal Office "Agriculture" - Petrich and an agricultural pharmacy with dispensary. In the course of the conducted activities the following were found and seized:

- Mobile phones and SIM cards;

- Applications for EU Operational Assistance Programmes, lease and sale contracts for private and municipal properties (agricultural areas) and other documents relevant to the above pre-trial proceedings;

- Multiple animal identifiers (ear tags).

In the course of the conducted measures with a detention order for a period of up to 24 hours under the Law on the Ministry of the Interior, 8 persons were detained, of whom the Head of the Municipal Office "Agriculture" - town of Petrich, other employees of the Municipal Office and persons involved in the above criminal activity.

The work on the case is ongoing, and interrogations of persons as witnesses are being carried out. Checks are being carried out on registered livestock farms of persons (beneficiaries of EU programmes) involved in the criminal activity. Discrepancies between the number of animals declared and the number of animals presented in the places that were inspected have so far been found. The investigation is being carried out under the supervision of the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

According to BNT sources, two of the group were detained in Obzor during an agricultural seminar.