Vasil Bozhkov announced that Georgi Popov is returning to Bulgaria – Bulgaria

Vasil Bozhkov announced on Thursday (May 20th) evening that his partner Georgi Popov would return to Bulgaria “of his own free will” on Friday. The businessman, who has been in Dubai for almost a year and a half, posted a photo on Facebook (at the end of the text) of a notification from a law firm, which explains that on the request for Popov’s extradition he will execute it at his will and not by a court decision.

Popov has been in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with Bozhkov since late January last year after the then government and prosecutors launched an attack on the gambling business and closed private lotteries by law, and 18 charges were brought against Bozhkov. Some of them are also against Popov – both of them and other partners were declared an organized criminal group.

Bulgaria also officially requested their extradition, but there is no official information about what is happening to him by the Arab authorities, and the prosecution does not answer questions on the subject.

From the letter and from the status in Bozhkov’s social network, nothing is understood about Popov’s motives to do so. According to the businessman, the arrest warrants for the two were found outside Bulgaria, where they were on business – Bozhkov left the country on his private plane a few days before the prosecutor’s office declared him wanted and some of the questions he left only with Popov and not with other members of his family – his wife Elena Dineva was in custody for 8 months.

Since he was in Dubai, Popov has appeared only in connection with the case with the transfer of the shares of the football club “Levski” last spring, of which he was the official majority owner. Bozhkov also pointed to him as a key witness in his signal that he had paid a peace fee to the former rulers, including visits to Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov. Popov himself said in a video that he was he saw his partner enter the ministry in bundles of 500 euros.

The letter was prepared by the Dubai office of the law firm Charles Russell Speechlys and it is also understood that there are no lawsuits against Popov in the emirates.

It is expected Georgi Popov to be arrested upon his arrival, as he is accused of participating in an organized criminal group led by Bozhkov.

A European arrest warrant has been issued for both of them, due to the execution of which it is expected that at the moment of Popov’s arrival on Bulgarian territory, he will be detained for at least 72 hours. If the request for a European Arrest Warrant is not substantiated, he would have to be arrested again within 72 hours for the charges against him. The specialized prosecutor’s office can then ask the court to order his permanent arrest.

Mandatory detention for at least 72 hours was requested by the prosecutor’s office last year in connection with the extradition and the charges against them. Bozhkov and Popov appealed through lawyers, but on February 27 last year. court panel chaired by Georgi Ushev (chairman of the special court of appeal) dismissed their complaints.

© Tsvetelina Belutova

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Meanwhile, on March 11, the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg declared all European arrest warrants issued by Bulgaria invalid. The most important consequence of this decision for Bulgaria is that it is a reason to reject all currently pending and unfulfilled European arrest warrants issued for prosecution by a prosecutor. Meanwhile, there is no functioning parliament that urgently needs to change the law and introduce preliminary judicial review of requests for a European Arrest Warrant so that the Bulgarian procedure meets European standards and requirements.