February 10 (SeeNews) - The UK and US governments said on Friday they are sanctioning several influential Bulgarians, three companies and two political formations for corruption.
The UK government handed travel bans and froze assets of businessman Vassil Bozhkov, former MP Delyan Peevski and Ilko Zhelyazkov - a former national security official and board member of Bulgaria’s largest state energy company "for abusing their positions of power by redirecting state funds for their own benefit," it said in a press release.
The sanctions were levied under the UK’s Global Anti-Corruption sanctions regime, and in coordination with the US state.
"The UK is acting in close coordination with the US to support Bulgaria in its efforts to tackle corruption and strengthen the rule of law by sanctioning these corrupt figures," UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.
Former MP and media tycoon Peevski has used bribery and the media businesses he owns to exert control over key Bulgarian institutions and sectors in Bulgarian society, while Bozhkov, reportedly Bulgaria’s richest man who built his fortune on gambling, extensively resorted to bribery to protect his business interests. Ilko Zhelyazkov, a former national security official and board member of Bulgaria’s largest state energy company, used his position to redirect a lucrative state contract for his own gain, the UK government noted.
Also on Friday, the US Treasury Department, which in June 2021 sanctioned Peevski, Bozhkov and Zhelyaskov under the Global Magnitsky Act, said it added five Bulgarians, three companies and two political formations linked to them to its sanctions programme under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), for corruption related to energy contracts, judicial bribery and legislative manipulation.
The individuals sanctioned by the US are former finance minister Vladislav Goranov, former energy minister Rumen Ovcharov, former Bulgarian Socialist Party MP and CEO of Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant Ivan Genov, Alexander Nikolov - another former CEO and deputy director of Kozloduy, as well as Nikolay Malinov, chairman of the Bulgarian National Movement of Russophiles. The political party Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland and two companies linked to Malinov -- MS Konsult 2016 and Inter Trade 2021, were also added to OFAC's designated list of sanctioned entities, together with Trilemma Consulting, a business linked to Goranov.
"The United States supports our NATO ally Bulgaria in its fight against both entrenched corruption and Russian influence, which undermine democratic institutions," Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in the statement.
He added that the behaviour exposed by the sanction action spans political parties and administrations in Bulgaria, highlighting the urgent need to dismantle the networks that have for years perpetuated illicit activities, especially in the energy sector.
Bulgaria was second only to Hungary in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2022, which was published last month.