Interior Ministry Expects More Tolerance Certificate Cases in Varna.

After careful analysis and in-depth operational interviews with Oleg Nevzorov, investigators established something far more troubling in Varna’s Primorski district. Such certificates could previously be issued by the district administration and later only by the larger municipality.

Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Lyubomir Nikolov said on Nova Television’s Na Fokus program that what had been established was more troubling than the Baba Alino case. He commented on the operation in which five employees of Varna’s Primorski district and 20 property owners in the city were detained. Nikolov noted that the actions were taken after a careful analysis of the available data and operational interviews with Oleg Nevzorov, the owner of KUB Corporation.

The Interior Ministry chief secretary said the aim was to question another Ukrainian citizen who is the link between the money flows and the possible orders passed down to the municipality. Further questioning and the collection of useful information are ahead, as well as questioning of people who are not in Bulgaria, the chief secretary said, specifying that the person in question is a Ukrainian citizen. Our expectation is to locate him and have him testify, he added.

I am sure that cases will also be established in Varna Municipality, Nikolov said, but he did not make a forecast about new arrests because the focus is first on discreet search and operational measures. Speaking on television, he advised municipal employees that it was better for them to be witnesses in the cases rather than participants in a criminal scheme.

Asked whether the Ukrainian investor Nevzorov is still only a witness in the case, Nikolov explained that he had used intermediaries through whom he transferred money to the relevant municipal officials. Regarding Petyo Petrov, known as The Euro, another figure whom the Interior Ministry has been unable to locate, Nikolov said there are three locations where he could possibly be found.

According to Nikolov, for a long period of time municipal officials had been turning a blind eye to unscrupulous property owners who had filled in declarations with false content. He suggested that illegally issued tolerance certificates could also be found in Varna Municipality. At present, however, the Ukrainian citizen is outside the country and work is being carried out with partner services.