site.btaUPDATED Recently Indicted Businessman Rumen Gaytanski Detained for 72 Hours After Turning Himself In

The prosecution service told BTA here on Friday that recently indicted businessman Rumen Gaytanski has been detained for 72 hours. The businessman has turned himself in voluntarily in the presence of a lawyer. 

The prosecution service added that in view of Gaytanski's upcoming detention order, no more information will be provided at this stage.  

On Thursday, the prosecutor's office said that Rumen Gaytanski was charged in connection with the investigation into a loan of about BGN 150 million from the Bulgarian Development Bank to the Roadway Construction company, which is linked to Gaytanski. There are media reports that the loan, which has been in default since 2022, was unsecured, and is alleged to have been used to pay for personal expenses, including luxury purchases and potentially illegal construction projects.

The other defendants in the pre-trial proceedings are the former executive director of the Bulgarian Bank of Bulgaria Stoyan Mavrodiev and the representative of the company Ivan Georgiev, who was released earlier on a BGN 50,000 bail.

The investigation into the BDB loan of 2019 was launched in late October 2022 following a tip-off. It was for a malfeasance in office and was assigned to the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (DGCOC) and then to an investigator from the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office. By a decree of May 5, 2023, the proceedings were discontinued as the supervising prosecutor considered that there was no evidence of a malfeasance in office. The Appellate Prosecutor's Office upheld the termination, but the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office found flaws in the investigation as some of the links between the companies that were connected to the loan had not been properly examined. The case was therefore referred back to the prosecution service on January 12, 2024 for further investigation, with instructions to question witnesses and request documentation. Following subsequent legislative changes, the pre-trial proceedings were assigned to the Anti-Corruption Commission. During the searches and seizures, documents and other evidence were seized.

Rumen “The Wolf” Gaytanski is known for having run Sofia’s waste collection and disposal through his “Volf 96” OOD and “Dits” AD companies. The two companies were awarded concessions by the Sofia Municipal Council back in 1996. In 2006, the then Sofia mayor and current GERB leader Boyko Borissov said that the municipality was looking for a way to get rid of the concessionaire companies. “We’re doing everything possible to rid ourselves of “The Wolf” in Sofia,” Borissov said back then. Sofia town hall appealed three decisions of the Sofia City Court, according to which the companies had to be compensated in the amount of over BGN 8 million. Gaytanski’s companies lost their concessions in Sofia shortly after, but managed to get concessions in other large cities, such as Stara Zagora, Sliven and Kardzhali.