The customs house and the free zone in Svilengrad near Bulgaria’s border with Turkey and Greece are due to close on 11th of January.
The customs offices within the structure of the customs house will be closed down after midnight on the basis of order issued by Bulgaria’s Minister of Finance. The customs offices “Train Station” and “Kapitan Andreevo” border check point will be transferred to the structure of Bourgas Customs House. The customs office in Kardzhali and Haskovo will be transfered to the structure of Plovdiv Customs House.
Due to the re-organisation, “Capitan Andreevo” check point will not work between 23.00 and 24.00 on 11th of January.
The decision of the Bulgarian government to close down the customs house was preceded by a series of corruption scandals. The most recent one was in mid-December 2015 when 33 customs officers were detained on suspicions of taking bribes to allow vehicles to pass the border unchecked. Searches of their homes found over 100,000 BGN, the source of which was unclear.
Bulgarian government’s motives for closing down the customs house in Svilengrad included the necessity to optimize the work of the Bulgarian Customs Agency and to undertake effective measure to prevent corruption practices in the future.
Svilengrad customs house has a workforce of 330 people. After the closure and the relocation of the custom officers to the new administrative management, they will be offered to renew the employment contracts.
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