site.btaPM Orders Audit at Razgrad, Smolyan Theatres after Their Directors Are Charged with Embezzlement

After a meeting with caretaker Minister of Culture Nayden Todorov on Thursday, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev ordered the Inspectorate to the Council of Ministers to immediately audit the state-owned theatres in Razgrad, northeastern Bulgaria, Smolyan, southern Bulgaria, whose directors have been charged with gross embezzlement.

Earlier on Thursday, Plovdiv, southern Bulgaria, Deputy District Prosecutor Galin Gavrilov announced that Smolyan Drama Theatre Director Rumen Bechev has been charged with  gross embezzlement. Prosecutors have found that Bechev used the same scheme as one applied by the director of the Razgrad theatre, Levon Manoukyan, which is why both will be probed in one pre-trial proceeding. The embezzlement took place in August and September.

A total of five people were arrested. The two of them have been released on bail. Manukyan's bail was set at BGN 50,000 and he is appealing it. Due to his state of health and the fact that he is cooperating with the investigators, Bechev's bail was set at BGN 15,000.