Hoteliers on the Southern Black Sea Coast were forced to pay the so-called peace fee so that they would not be subjected to systematic inspections and the water supply would not be cut off. This was stated to journalists by the deputy administrative head of the District Prosecutor's Office - Burgas, Miroslav Iliev, in connection with the investigation against an organized criminal group, in which, according to the prosecution, four people participated, two of whom held managerial positions in “Water Supply and Sewerage - Burgas“ EAD.
According to Iliev, the group operated by manipulating water meters in a number of hotels. Technical devices were installed that recorded a significantly smaller amount of water than was actually consumed. The difference between the actual consumption and the recorded amount, according to the prosecutor's office, was paid in cash to the group.
“A fee of between 10, 20, and in some cases up to 30 thousand leva per hotel was collected“, said Prosecutor Iliev. According to his data, the payments were made monthly or once a season, depending on the hotel's capacity and the number of tourists. According to the information collected so far, the scheme covered between 30 and 50 hotels, with the investigation continuing and interrogations of owners and managers to establish their exact number are pending, the prosecutor explained.
According to Iliev, when a hotel refused to pay, an inspection of the manipulated device followed. After the violation was established, finding protocols were drawn up and the amounts charged to the Water and Sewerage Authority were required to be paid within a short period of time. In case of non-payment, the water supply was stopped.
“If you stop the water supply to a hotel at the height of the tourist season, the result will be bankruptcy. This is the mechanism of extortion“, said Miroslav Iliev. He added that most of the affected sites are located on the territory of the Nessebar municipality - in the Sunny Beach resort complex and in Ravda, and it is not excluded that other hotels on the Black Sea coast will be identified during the investigation.
The prosecutor specified that charges have been brought against four people. One of them is Hristo Shirokov, he said. Shirokov was brought in as a defendant later, since he was identified at a later stage of the investigation. According to the prosecutor's office, the funds collected were directed to him, but it has not yet been clarified whether he is the leader of the group or whether the participants acted with previously assigned roles.
The investigation is ongoing, with more evidence to be collected and witnesses to be questioned. The prosecutor's office stressed that it is too early to comment on possible penalties, as the proceedings are in their early stages and the court is yet to rule on the request for permanent arrest of some of the accused.