Prosecutor's Office requested permission to issue European Arrest Warrant for former BDB Executive Director Stoyan Mavrodiev

A case has been initiated in the Sofia City Court for permission to issue a European Arrest Warrant for the former head of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), Stoyan Mavrodiev.

The request was submitted by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. Today, November 11, the case has been assigned to a judge and an open court hearing is to be scheduled to consider it.

Stoyan Mavrodiev, was declared nationally wanted in August 2024 by decree of the Anti-Corruption Commission.

Stoyan Mavrodiev is being investigated for granting an unsecured loan to a company related to businessman Rumen Gaitanski -nicknamed the Wolf. Gaitanski spent several months in custody but was released on bail of 250,000 BGN due to ill health.

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Rumen Gaitanski the Wolf, Ivan Georgiev, a representative of Roadway Construction - Gaitanski's company, and the former head of the Bulgarian Development Bank, Stoyan Mavrodiev (2017-2020), were accused of an unsecured loan of BGN 150 million granted by the Bulgarian Development Bank to Roadway Construction in 2019, the prosecutor's office said in August. Mavrodiev and Gaitanski were charged in absentia, and the representative of Roadway Construction was detained for 24 hours.

The case was initiated following an alert submitted in October 2022. Out of the BGN 150 million loan granted, the bank can collect no more than BGN 5 million, Tsanko Arabadzhiev, BDB executive director told BNT.

He pointed out that in 2021, the Bulgarian Development Bank had already submitted signals to the competent authorities regarding the loan.