Bulgaria's former gambling mogul and billionaire Vassil Bojkov has been extradited by the United Arab Emirates, the Sofia City Prosecution Office (SCPO) told BTA on Tuesday. Contrary to that, Bojkov stated upon his arrival in Sofia on August 25 that he had opted to come back home of his own free will.
At Sofia Airport, Bojkov was arrested as the prosecution service had said shortly before his flight landed. He was subsequently charged in two cases: one for financial offences related to his gambling empire and one for criminal offences.
The prosecution service said they had received the official documents from the UAE on August 28, with details of the extradition and the flight from Dubai to Sofia and arrival time. The official letter is dated August 23, notifying the Bulgarian authorities that he would be extradited on August 25.
"To date the SCPO has not received a judicial instrument from the competent Emirati authorities regarding the extradition decision," the prosecution specified.
The documents said that Bojkov's extradition was prompted by his money laundering charge. Insiders say that he can only be tried on the charge on account of which he has been extradited and not on the rest of the 18 charges brought against him.
Later on Tuesday, the Bulgarian foreign and justice ministries also said that they had not received official documents from the UAE on Bojkov's extradition.
Bojkov's Defence: Prosecution's Allegations Inaccurate, Untrue
Bojkov's defence lawyer Georgi Gatev described the information contained in Tuesday's prosecution service release as "inaccurate and probably untrue."
"If he were extradited, this is done according to an established procedure, under guard and securing the return. He returned on his own. If he were extradited, he would not be allowed to travel alone," Gatev commented on Tuesday.
Bojkov's lawyers have argued that his client had long planned to fly back home but had not been allowed by the authorities in Dubai to leave the country because his security would be at risk. According to Bojkov's team, he presented himself before the UAE prosecutors back on June 20 and said he wished to surrender to the Bulgarian authorities, which is evidenced by a certificate dated August 23, 2023. The lawyer pointed out that Bojkov had three interviews with prosecutors in Dubai and was asked thrice whether he was sure that he wanted to return to Bulgaria and was certain that he would be safe there. In Gatev's words, Bojkov replied to these questions in the affirmative.
Asked by BTA why his client decided to come back, the lawyer that Bojkov relied that "there was probably a certain change in the judicial system, in justice in Bulgaria". He added that the reasons for his return included a dismissal of a case for a crime against the Republic and the closure by Parliament of the specialized criminal court and specialized prosecution office.
On October 6, 2021, Bojkov wrote on Facebook that the Bulgarian authorities had submitted 18 requests for his extradition to the Emirati institutions. The Bulgarian prosecution service, however, failed to present the most important documents supporting the requests: the initial investigation and the original detention order, which are required under the UAE extradition law. After these documents did not arrive, the Supreme Court in Abu Dabi rejected the extradition requests. This decision is enforceable and unappealable, Bojkov argued.
Forced to Share 20% Cut of Earnings with PM, Finance Minister?
On Tuesday afternoon, Bojkov was questioned as a witness in a bribery case initiated after a series of disclosures he made on Facebook in May 2021 that he had been allegedly forced to share a 20% cut of his business earnings with then Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov and PR officer Sevdalina Arnaudova. The businessman also alleged that he had tried to sell half of his lottery business to a Czech company for BGN 1 billion, but Borissov and Goranov got wind of it and tried to force him to transfer a majority interest in it to a person named by them, and that they had attacked his business when he declined to do their bidding. Borissov and Goranov have dismissed Bojkov's allegations as downright lies and the prosecution service initially found no evidence of any wrongdoing. When a new government came to power - for a short stint - later in 2021, Borissov and Goranov were briefly arrested over Bojkov's allegations but were promptly released, and a court subsequently ruled that their detention had been unlawful.
Once the Wealthiest Bulgarian
Once considered to be the wealthiest Bulgarian, worth between BGN 1.5 and 3 billion, Bojkov lost his gambling empire overnight in early 2020 when Parliament outlawed private lotteries, and he was charged with evading more than BGN 700 million in gambling licensing fees, money laundering, extortion, bribery, murder, abetting murder, attempted rape, leading an organized crime group since 2014, trading in influence, and unlawful possession of cultural assets. The businessman left Bulgaria in mid-January 2020 ahead of the full-scale crackdown against him and settled in Dubai.
In June 2021, Bojkov was designated by the US for major corruption under the Global Magnitsky Act. In February 2023, he was also sanctioned by the UK "for serious corruption and abuse of public institution funds".
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