Court returns Plovdiv mayor case to the prosecutor’s office

The specialised criminal court on 15^th of June returned the case against the mayor of Plovdiv Ivan Totev to the prosecutor's office. Totev, the deputy mayor Dimitar Katsarski and the mayor of the West region Dimitar Kolev had been accused of malfeasance in office in relation to the choice of contractor for the construction of the zoo in the city.

According to the court, the accusation is unclear and there is insufficient evidence that the three defendants committed breaches in building the zoo.

The public prosecution said they would protest today's decision. According to the prosecutor in the case, Dimitar Petrov, the specialized court has copied the decision for termination from the decision of the district court in Plovdiv. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the three of them secured a benefit of BGN 689,000 for a private company, which had been assigned the construction of the zoo without a public procurement, but though direct negotiation.

The investigation against the three began in November 2016 by the specialised anti-corruption unit. Ivan Totev himself declined to comment.