The Burgas District Court has released the regional coordinator of the DPS in Burgas, Hristo Shirokov, under house arrest with an electronic tracking device, Nova TV reported.
Shirokov was brought in as a defendant because he participated in an organized criminal group together with other individuals during the period February 2024 - July 14, 2026. It is alleged that it was created for a selfish purpose and to commit crimes.
A total of four people have been charged in the case. In addition to Shirokov, the other three are the director of ViK-Burgas, Tsvetan Mirchev, and two of his subordinates. According to data from the investigation, this is a scheme in which water meters were manipulated in such a way that objects officially paid unrealistically low water bills, and the rest of the money was given “in hand“ of Shirokov.
According to the investigation, this is a scheme in which water meters were manipulated so that facilities would officially pay unrealistically low water bills, and the rest of the money was given “by hand“ to Shirokov. According to the collected data, the four collected a “peace of mind” fee, forcing hotel owners to pay between 10 and 30,000 leva from differences in reported and actually consumed water to them, and not to the company.
The court took into account the additional forensic medical examination, which established that Shirokov's health had significantly deteriorated after heart surgery.
With regard to the head of the “Sales and Company Control” department detained in the case in the Burgas Water and Sewerage Company Metodi Smilov, the court decided to leave the imposed measure of “house arrest”.