The Court of Appeals in Varna sentenced the confiscation of 85 cars – part of the property of the defendant for a tax crime Denislav I. the acquisition and registration in his name of 68 vehicles.
The defendant was sentenced to 3 years in prison, suspended for 5 years. He was also obliged to meet periodically with a probation officer. The verdict of the first instance was protested by the prosecutor’s office, with a request to impose the cumulative confiscation of property provided by law.
At the time of the crime, Denislav, who lived in Silistra, was unemployed and had financial difficulties. He lived with a woman of Romanian origin and maintained contacts with citizens of our northern neighbor. He received an offer to register Romanian cars in his name so that they would not pay taxes in their homeland.
In 2007, the man began providing these “services”. The Romanians paid the costs of registering the cars and gave him about BGN 50 for each car. He handed over the coupons of the vehicles to the foreign citizens and authorized them to manage and operate them, but not to sell them. Thus, within 7 years Denislav acquired 88 cars and trucks. For 68 of them he did not fulfill his legal obligation to declare them to the Local Taxes and Fees Department in the Municipality of Silistra, Monitor writes.
Since 2015, the data in the Ministry of Interior from the register of road vehicles are submitted daily to the Ministry of Finance, from where they are forwarded to the municipalities. Thus, the Municipality of Silistra determined the respective taxes for the cars and took actions for their forced collection. The tax due exceeded BGN 39,157. By his inaction the defendant avoided the establishment and payment of tax liabilities in especially large amounts. He did so under the conditions of a continuing crime. Thus, he damaged the public relations, which guarantee the normal functioning of the tax system and ensure predictability in the formation of the revenue part of the municipal budget, the indictment says.
After gathering additional evidence of Denislav’s property status, the appellate court found that the first-instance verdict violated the Criminal Code, which in such cases also requires confiscation of property. Therefore, the defendant was punished by confiscation of 85 cars, representing part of his property. However, the court ruled that the confiscation of real estate from the defendant would be an excessive repression, given his social status – he is retired and has no other income. For these reasons, the Court of Appeal – Varna changed the sentence of the District Court – Silistra, increasing the sentence of Denislav only by confiscating part of his property.
The decision is subject to cassation review before the Supreme Court of Cassation.
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