Bulgaria's acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov has ordered ex officio checks of the 25 case files and pre-trial proceedings in which Martin Bozhanov has been an accused, complainant, witness or a party in another capacity since 2004, the prosecution service said in a press release on Tuesday.
"In connection with numerous refusals to initiate pre-trial proceedings, mainly by prosecutors of the Sofia Regional Prosecution Office, as well as by other prosecution offices, a review of all decisions was ordered with a view to finding whether the magistrates acted in conformity with the law," the prosecution service said. "The checks will also look into the celerity and regularity of the case files and cases and the timely exercise of powers by the investigating magistrates and prosecutors."
The press release added that the larger parts of the case files and pre-trial proceedings were conducted at the Sofia Regional Prosecution Office and concerned real estate fraud and other wrongful acts allegedly committed by Bozhanov.
One of the case files at the Sofia Regional Prosecution Office was prompted by an investigative journalist report, and the institution of pre-trial proceedings was refused on that case file, but such proceedings were initiated at the Sofia City Prosecution Office on part of this case file in the second half of 2023 in connection with leading an organized crime group for real estate fraud and exerting unlawful influence on a judicial authority between 2010 and 2020. Work on the case is in progress, and the time limit for the investigation has been prolonged by two months, reckoned from December 27, 2023.
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