site.btaCounter-Corruption Commission Reports Irregularities in Over 700 Declarations in 2018

120 POLITICS - COUNTER-CORRUPTION COMMISSION - REPORT

Counter-Corruption Commission Reports
Irregularities in Over 700
Declarations in 2018


Sofia, March 13 (BTA) - The head of the Counter-Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission (CCUAAFC), Plamen Georgiev, Wednesday presented to the National Assembly the CCUAAFC's first annual report for 2018. According to the report, there are omissions or discrepancies in over 700 of the annual declarations submitted by high-ranking officials last year.

Georgiev commented that the high number of mistakes is due to the newly introduced declarations and to the lack of a sufficiently good information campaign.

The report reads that the CCUAAFC received and checked 2,866 annual property declarations, 3,568 introductory declarations of property status and conflict of interest, and 102 final declarations. Omissions were found in the declarations of persons from all circles subject to a check, including MPs, ministers, deputy ministers, mayors, and municipal councillors. As the procedure requires, they will now be invited to remove these omissions, after which the CCUAAFC will present the list of persons, Georgiev explained.

In 2018, the CCUAAFC submitted to court 198 requests for injunctions worth 316,668,042.69 leva, the report also reads. According to the official statistics of the National Revenue Agency (NRA), last year 90 per cent of the property sold by the NRA had been seized by the CCUAAFC, Georgiev said.

The report shows that a conflict of interest was established in 28 cases last year, compared to 3 cases in 2017. This difference speaks of increased efficiency, which is the result of the law adopted by Parliament that gives the CCUAAFC access to other institutions' sources, Georgiev commented.

He noted that the 701 corruption alerts received by the CCUAAFC in 2018 are a sign of the trust in this young but already actively working institution. There were successful operations as well, he added, specifying that the CCUAAFC considers it a success when the prosecuting magistracy recognizes the evidence gathered and brings charges.

The National Assembly is expected to vote on the CCUAAFC's annual report on Thursday.

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