The mayor of General Toshevo, Valentin Dimitrov, who was detained on Wednesday in a fraud case, has been released on bail of BGN 10,000.
Early in the morning, BSP supporters from the municipality protested against the arrest of the mayor of General Toshevo in front of the police in Dobrich.
He was detained at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with an investigation into subsidy fraud related to a project to increase the energy efficiency of social housing.
According to the announcement of the prosecutor’s office, headed by Laura Köveshi, searches were carried out in the buildings of the municipality and in the offices of officials suspected of complicity in the crimes for which the investigation is being conducted.
The chairman of the Municipal Council of General Toshevo, Dr. Yana Boneva, who is also from the BSP, told Nova TV that there were no searches in the municipality.
The deputy mayor of General Toshevo, Rumen Muntyanov, said that, in his opinion, it was an attack on Valentin Dimitrov because of the upcoming local elections. On Friday, Valentin Dimitrov was supposed to be nominated for a third term as a BSP candidate for mayor.
The Municipal Council of General Toshevo stated that they fully support the mayor’s work.
10 hours ago, Mayor Valentin Dimitrov left the First Regional Police Department in Dobrich and went to the protesters. He was greeted with thunderous applause and shouts of “Freedom!” and “Well done, Vallo!”, BTA reported.
Then he headed to the investigative office. After leaving there, his lawyer Milen Yankov announced that he had been charged and a bail of BGN 10,000 was imposed on him.
Valentin Dimitrov refused to comment to the media.
“All these people here are worth fighting for”, said the mayor. He specified that he was sleeping peacefully.
According to the announcement of the European Prosecutor’s Office, the facts of the case are from 2017 – 2019. It concerns a grant received by the municipality of General Toshevo for a project to increase the energy efficiency of multi-family residential buildings, financed by the European Union, worth 169,000 euros (about 330 000 BGN). A private subcontractor was hired for the implementation of the project. There is currently no information on who he is.
According to the collected evidence, officials involved in the implementation of the project, including the mayor, presented false information about the work carried out on it, which was not completed by its deadline, the European Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
In recent months, Laura Kioveshi’s prosecutor’s office has held several landmark actions in Bulgaria, one of which was related to the repair of the yellow paving stones in Sofia.
In March this year The European Prosecutor’s Office issued a report on its work in Bulgaria over the past two years. It became clear from him that 143 investigations are being conducted in our country, and the damage caused is estimated at a total of 492 million euros.
So far, the European Prosecutor’s Office has achieved only one conviction in Bulgaria after an agreement was reached in a case against a former employee of the State Fund for Agriculture. It is conditional with a term of 1 year.
At the same time, several EU prosecutors left the institution, and Laura Kyoveshi ordered an audit in Bulgaria because of the problems. Its result has not yet been publicly announced.
2023-08-10 09:04:56
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