BULGARIA’S SUPREME COURT OF CASSATION UPHELD ACQUITTAL OF ALL DEFENDANTS IN SAPARD MONEY LAUNDERING CASE

Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation upheld the acquittal of all defendants in the court case for the money laundering connected to the defrauding of 7,5 million Euro from the EU’s pre-accession aid SAPARD programme, the court said on 8th of November.

Nearly 10 years after the start of the high-profile investigation, the prosecutor’s office failed to prove that there was an organized criminal group headed by the businessmen Mario Nikolov and Lyudmil Stoykov.

The investigation began following a signal reported by the European Anti-Fraud Office OLAF. The other lawsuit from the so called “SAPARD affair” was re-opened 2 years ago by the first instance court - specialized court in Sofia.