Sofia Prosecutor's Office referred to Chief Prosecutor for lack of cooperation from Serbia for the arrest of two Bulgarian nationals linked to the investigation into the Nexo case

The two Bulgarian nationals linked to the investigation into the Nexo case, Antoni Trenchev and Kosta Kanchev, have not been detained by the Serbian authorities, although they were circulated as internationally wanted in the Schengen Information System and INTERPOL. Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has notified Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev of the non-compliance with international agreements under the European Convention on Extradition, in order to refer the matter to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The Prosecutor's office explained that Kanchev and Trenchev landed in Belgrade on the evening of 6 April. The next day, translations of the requests for declaring of the two accused as internationally wanted and their provisional detention were sent to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia. It is clear from the announcement of the Prosecutor's office that the two stated that they were 'victims of a politically motivated smear campaign in the course of the election campaign in Bulgaria'.

There has been no delay on the part of the Bulgarian Prosecutor's office, Deputy Head of Sofia City Prosecutor’s office Hristo Krastev told BNT on April 10.

In a statement released on April 10, the Prosecutor’s office recalls that European arrest warrants were issued for the two individuals in question on March 31, 2023.

On April 4, 2023, the Directorate of International Operational Cooperation of the Ministry of the Interior sent information to Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office that the two were declared internationally wanted in the Schengen Information System with an alert entered under Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as well as via the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL), the statement reads.

On April 7, 2023, the Ministry of the Interior’s Directorate of International Operational Cooperation sent information to Sofia city’s Prosecutor’s Office that the General Secretariat (GS) of Interpol confirmed the receipt of the documents regarding the international search for the accused.

On the same date, the INTERPOL General Secretariat said the accused had described themselves as victims of a politically motivated smear campaign in the Bulgarian election campaign. In this connection, the INTERPOL General Secretariat requested additional information from the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office on possible political positions, activities, ties and influence in Bulgaria of the wanted persons. It is stated that the requested information is necessary in order to make an assessment in accordance with Article 3 of the Interpol Constitution. The requested information and documents were sent in due time. The Interpol GS confirmed receipt of the documents and informs that they are being analysed in order to verify their compliance with the rules of the INTERPOL.

It should be noted that a request has been sent by the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria to Interpol for the declaration of the accused as internationally wanted and their provisional detention.

Also on April 7, 2023, information was received from the Interpol Office in Belgrade, according to which the two accused arrived on April 6, 2023 at 23:05 at the Belgrade airport on a flight from Dubai. The INTERPOL informed the Serbian authorities that in view of the complaints from the wanted persons, the circulated wanted letters are not visible.

In this regard, Serbian translations of the requests for declaring as internationally wanted and provisional detention of the accused persons have been sent to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia. The request of the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office for temporary detention of the wanted persons has not been complied with by the competent Serbian authorities, the statement of the Prosecutor’s office reads.

Sofia City Prosecutor's Office notified the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr Ivan Geshev, of the non-compliance with international agreements under the European Convention on Extradition, so that the Secretary General of the Council of Europe could be duly informed," the statement further says.

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On Friday, April 7, Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor, Ivan Geshev, told the media that Nexo’s founders had arrived in Belgrade from Dubai, and the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office had sent a warrant for their arrest for 72 hours to the authorities in Serbia.

“The founders of the crypto company Nexo, Antoni Trenchev and Kosta Kanchev, do not appear on either the Interpol or Europol lists, as they have not been issued with red notices and a European arrest warrant,” Nexo said later on Friday.

Nexo co-founder Antoni Trenchev on Saturday, April 8, posted a video on his social network profile, entitled “Greetings from Belgrade!”, to show he was not in Serbia, but in a different place, likely Dubai.

“I thought not to deal with nonsense, but for some reason, my whereabouts again became of national interest. Hello from the detention facility in Belgrade. The mood is good. Once again, the Bulgarian institutions are abusing the names of international institutions, I don’t know how long this will go on for,” Trenchev says in the video.

“Instead of finally telling us something about the gold bars, the sacks, the houses in Barcelona, as they promised in January, they are concerned with who flew where, where they landed, who will meet whom. The whole thing is extremely frivolous and explains why Bulgaria is in such severe international isolation “, he says and adds that these are “the consequences of the collective stupidity of our Prosecutor’s office, various state agencies and Bulgarian political elite”.

“Today is Saturday, a beautiful day”, Trenchev says and adds that he intends to spend it with his wife and child.

In January, following an operation by the Prosecutor’s office, four people received criminal charges for money laundering, tax crimes, computer fraud and conducting banking activities without a license.

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