FBI awards Acting Prosecutor General Sarafov for his contribution to the fight against cross-border organized crime

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Wray awarded Acting Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria Borislav Sarafov with a certificate of merit for his personal contribution to the successful cooperation between the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office and investigation service and the FBI in the fight against cross-border organised crime, the press service of the Prosecutor's office said on May 23.

The award was presented to Sarafov at an event in the FBI headquarters in Washington. He is on a working visit to the United States at the invitation of the US Department of Justice.

The focus of Sarafov's talks with his American hosts was on the criminal law cooperation between the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office and the US law enforcement institutions in the context of the contemporary security challenges and the interaction in the fight against trans-border organised crime. In this regard, joint actions against international criminal groups involving Bulgarian citizens are discussed.

In the context of the judicial reform in the country, the Acting Prosecutor General discussed the best practices in the work of the FBI, which would be useful in a structural reform of the National Investigation Service (NIS) and the District Investigation Departments and their possible restructuring in based on the model of the federal service.

In meetings with FBI officials, the Prosecutor General has drawn attention to the challenges that law enforcement agencies around the world have in investigating cybercrimes. It was agreed that an attaché would soon be sent to the FBI office in Sofia, whose portfolio would be countering internet crimes.

During the working visit Sarafov also visited the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. It was agreed that for the first time an investigator from the National Security Service would undergo the full training course at the Academy and that in the future Bulgarian investigators would be regularly sent for training at the FBI.

The Prosecutor General has expressed to the leadership of the FBI Academy a desire to hold in Bulgaria a series of training seminars with lecturers from the United States for Bulgarian magistrates and special services officers with a main focus on cybercrime and electronic evidence collection.