Registry Agency Judge Dismissed from the Post after Arrest on Bribery Charges

Bulgaria’s Minister of Justice, Tsetska Tsacheva removed Yordan Radenkov from the post of Registry Agency Judge, the Justice Ministry said on 31^st of May.

The Justice Minister issued the order for Radenkov’s dismissal because of the investigation against him following his arrest during an anti-corruption operation on 30^th of May.

Yordan Radenkov was charged with bribing and money laundering. According to the Prosecutor’s office, he was allegedly taking 50 BGN to speed up the issuance of encumbrance certificates and took more money for other services. Radenkov was under surveillance for more than 8 months and his actions were documented by special surveillance devices.

He was arrested while receiving two envelopes containg a total of 1,050 BGN.

According to the investigation, these were bribes for accelarted issuing of encumbrance certificates and documents for registration of property transactions.

35, 000 BGN were seized during a search of Radenkov’s home. According to reports, he received money from at least 4 notary offices. Employees of the notary offices who were detained during the operation gave testimony and were later released. They said they were blackmailed by the registry agency judge and their stories were confrmed by the data documented by the special surveillance devices.