US explains sanctions against Bulgarian oligarch by ties with Russia

Bulgarian oligarch Vasil Bozhkov, who fell under US sanctions , tried to organize a channel of Russian influence on Bulgarian officials. It is reported by the US Treasury .

According to the department, the businessman gave bribes to Bulgarian officials. Among them, according to the Ministry of Finance, was "the current political leader and former chairman of the now abolished State Commission on Gambling (GKG)." Bozhkov also planned to provide some money earlier this year to a former Bulgarian official and Bulgarian politician to help Bozhkov create a channel through which Russian political leaders could influence Bulgarian government officials.

According to the US Treasury Department, Bozhkov is now in Dubai, where he managed to avoid extradition to his homeland on a number of charges brought in 2020, including leading an organized crime group, attempting to bribe an official, and tax evasion. “In the course of the investigation, the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office discovered that in February 2018, Bozhkov paid the then chairman of the State Committee of the Republic of Belarus 10,000 Bulgarian leva (approximately $6,220) daily for revoking gambling licenses from Bozhkov’s competitors,” the report says.

After the mass bribery scheme was revealed, according to the Ministry of Finance, the chairman of the State Committee for the Investigation resigned, was arrested, and the commission was abolished. On the eve of the parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, which are to be held in July this year (the previous ones were held in April, but failed to form a government), Bozhkov, according to Washington, registered the party in order to influence officials and politicians.