Prosecutor’s Office Gives Details on the Public Arrest of the Mayor of Mladost

Dozens of reports were filed against the mayor of Mladost district Desislava Ivancheva for pressure applied by her. The bribe she allegedly sought for issuing a building permit was to the amount of 500,000 euros. It was supposed to be handed over in several tranches through an intermediary. The permits in question were for four construction sites.

The investigation began in December following a signal by a contractor. He has secured the money for the law enforcement operation which was conducted yesterday, 17^th of April. Hundreds of docuemts of cases have been found In the mayor's office during the search and according to the investigators, she has deliberately delayed cases and did not move them forward, the Head of the Specialised Prosecutor’s office, Ivan Geshev, said on 18^th of April.

Several complaints have been filed against the mayor of Mladost in the administrative and metropolitan municipal council because of delayed cases, Geshev said.

Ivan Geshev explained that he would use the term "blackmail" and added that pressure was applied to a person to pay a big sum. In view of the fact that he is not the type of person who would allow such type of pressure, he contacted the anti-corruption commission. Geshev said. He was interviewed and explained the specific situation, he added.

Geshev explained that a method of pressure was used, masked with good intentions to fight against bad practices in connection with the constructions of the particular area. The way was to delay different procedures and not to resolve them. During the search in the municipality of Mladost and the home of the mayor, hundreds of cases were found, which should have been with specific specialists.

The extorted person, handed over the amount of money in a cafe located at the corner of Gurko and Rakovski street. The mediator contacted the mayor and deputy mayor and went to them at the café at Crystal garden. They sat down and drank coffee for two hours. They took the money. The mediator took EUR 14,000 out of this EUR 70,000, which was his share although he had told the blackmaied person that he would not get money from this job and that the whole amount will be taken by the mayor. But he took 20% of the mayor’s share, probably expecting 20% from the blackmailed person too. The intermediary took the money, the three stayed at the café for 2 hours and then went in different directions, Geshev explained.

The mayor of Sofia’s Mladost district, Dessislava Ivancheva, was arrested on 17th of April during an anti-corruption operation. Allegedly, she has received a bribe of 70,000 euros.