site.btaPlovdiv Appellate Court Confirms Conclusively European Arrest Warrant Against Danish National for Money Laundering

The Plovdiv Appellate Court upheld a ruling of the Plovdiv District Court, which confirmed the national arrest warrant issued by the Plovdiv District Prosecution Office against a Danish citizen wanted in Bulgaria for money laundering, district court representative Sasha Pushkova said on Friday. It is the first European arrest warrant issued in the district after changes in extradition and European arrest warrant, which introduced a mandatory sanction for the court.

The case at the Plovdiv Appellate Court was initiated on the appeal of the legal assistant of the wanted person F. A. G. against the Plovdiv District Court order confirming the issuance of a national detention order.

In the pre-trial proceedings, the Danish defendant was charged with having carried out financial transactions with funds that she knew to have been acquired through criminal means between July 25, 2019, and July 26, 2019, in Plovdiv. She made two bank money transfers from the account of a Bulgarian company to an account in Hong Kong, and in the last transfer she withdrew BGN 47,000 cash.

The offence was committed three times, the funds were in large amounts - a total of USD 1,163,018, equivalent to BGN 2,093,481.68 and the case is severe, Pushkova said.

The court held that all the prerequisites for issuing a national detention order against the defendant were present.  The offence is punishable by imprisonment for between 5 and 15 years and a fine of between BGN 10,000 and BGN 30,000, and a reasonable assumption can be made from the evidence in the case that she was involved in the offence charged. There is also a risk that she will commit a criminal offence, given the manner and mechanism of the act committed, as well as a risk of her absconding, given her permanent residence abroad and her refusal to appear before the investigating authorities in Bulgaria. 

The order of the Appellate Court is final.