Eight people were detained in Sofia in preventing a real estate transaction in which false documents were used. This was stated by the Director of the State Department of Internal Affairs, Chief Commissioner Nikolay Peltekov, during a briefing, quoted by Nova TV.
He explained that during the operation, an attempt to carry out a transaction with the property of a deceased Bulgarian citizen was prevented. Information about this fraud was received on August 10, and various operations were carried out. As a result, information was received that a transaction with the property of the deceased woman was to be carried out today.
8 people were detained - five men and three women, and each of them had a different role in the course of the scheme, but this will be clarified later. Their ages range from 21 to 72. The buyer of the property is 21 years old, and the man who tried to sell it is 72 years old. The apartment is located in the central part of Sofia on Tsar Asen Street, and its value is high. The woman had another apartment in the same building.
He explained that three of the detainees have other criminal records and have been convicted over the years. “They committed thefts, possession, and driving while intoxicated. One of the individuals provided false data on the use of funds from the European Union budget,” said Peltekov.
"The elderly man acquired a false and handwritten will from the woman who died in 2008. In 2020, he declared the will through a notary in Vratsa, as a result of which he received a notarial deed. Immediately after that, he sold part of the land in the territory of the city of Kozloduy, and today he tried to sell a property in the territory of the city of Sofia," explained Chief Commissioner Peltekov. He added that in the course of the initiated pre-trial proceedings, the activities of the office where the notarial deed was drawn up will also be investigated.
2 years later - in 2022, law enforcement agencies doubted its authenticity and began an investigation. A case has been filed in the case and it has been established that it is not real. The penalty for this crime is less than 3 years, the provisions of the Criminal Code also allow for a fine of 1,000 leva, which the man received.
Neighbors of the real owner say that she never wrote a will, but had an heir who is placed in a home for people with special needs in the city of Smolyan. According to them, she has a guardian from the municipality. "She has a guardian from "Triaditsa" who takes care of her property and what needs to be paid in the home," they say.
For years, the appetizing apartment in the center of Sofia has been uninhabited and in a deplorable state, the neighbors say. But they are not surprised that it has become the subject of fraud. The woman was born in 1919.
At the moment, there is no information that the buyer was involved in the crime.
In conclusion, the director of the SDVR explained that this is the fourth case of preventing property fraud in the capital since the beginning of the year.