The Director of the ViK - Nessebar water supply company, Svilen Stanchev, has been charged with receiving a bribe of 8,000 euros, reports the Bulgarian National Television. He was detained with marked banknotes after a large-scale investigation into a corruption scheme in the connection of private properties to the water supply network in the villa area of the village of Kosharitsa.
The investigation against the head of ViK - Nessebar, who is also responsible for the Pomorie region, began in late May and early June. That was when the first signals of established corruption practices in the state-owned company were received. According to the collected data, citizens wishing to connect their properties to the network were first instructed to have a personal meeting with the director before submitting an official application.
The development of the case lasted for nearly a month with the use of special intelligence tools. The director of the Burgas Department of Water and Sanitation, Senior Commissioner Nikolay Nenkov, describes the mechanism of the crime:
"When a person decides to connect to the sewage network of ViK - Nessebar, going to the counter, they refer him to the manager. Right from the beginning, they told him: 'Don't submit an application, go to the manager'. Accordingly, the person makes an appointment, goes to this meeting and there it begins – let's see, we'll talk."
The actual transfer of the bribe of 8,000 euros was carried out face to face. According to the supervising prosecutor Andrey Chervenyakov, the money was found during the arrest in the defendant's personal car.
"The actual transfer of the money took place personally between our main witness and the head of the unit. There were only the two of them. The amount in question was found in the back seat of his car, in a bag – closed. I will take the liberty of saying it – the marking method was used precisely for this purpose, since at the moment the marked material corresponds to the banknotes and to the detained person, and only to him" — explains prosecutor Chervenyakov.
During the subsequent searches of Svilen Stanchev's home, the investigators found an additional amount of over 30,000 euros, as well as specific lists of names. The prosecutor's office is yet to clarify whether this is an isolated case or a systematic and larger-scale criminal activity.
During the initial operation on Friday, the technical manager of the company, who unofficially served as his deputy, was also detained along with the director. He was subsequently released, as there is currently no evidence of his participation in the corrupt practices.
In the afternoon, Svilen Stanchev will be brought before the Burgas District Court, which will have to determine his permanent detention measure.