The Mayor of Sungurlare, Dimitar Gavazov, was detained in a specialized raid by the Bulgarian State Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Bulgarian National Security Agency (DANS) in the municipality and the Burgas region. Documents and other materials from the local administration were seized during the raid, bTV reported, citing its sources in the Ministry of Interior.
Public procurement contracts awarded by the municipality are being checked. Investigators are clarifying what activities were awarded, what the value of the contracts is, what amounts were paid and whether what was reported corresponds to what was actually done. According to information from bTV, data on fictitious activities in the selection of contractors are also being checked.
The development comes after contradictory reports about the course of the raid. At 15:30, BNR Burgas reported that officers of the Directorate of the Anti-Corruption Bureau had seized documents from the municipality, but no one was detained. The media outlet also quoted Gavazov himself, who was not in the administration at the time.
Later, bTV reported that the mayor was taken away and detained as part of the operation. As of the latest public data, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Security Agency have not published official information about the actions in the investigation.
There is no public data that Gavazov has been brought in as a defendant, nor whether the prosecution will request a permanent measure of detention. It has not been announced how many others are detained, if the information about them is officially confirmed.
Dimitar Gavazov has been mayor of Sungurlare municipality since November 2023. Before that, he was deputy mayor in the municipal administration.
Sources: btvnovinite.bg, bnrnews.bg, flagman.bg