“Civil Forfeiture in Bulgaria 2005-2010” - Reactions

The Commission on the Establishment of Property Acquired through Criminal Activity (CEPACA) has been more successful in putting distrains on property, but not in actually confiscating property; CEPACA has claimed higher values of the seized property; the confiscated assets and property are in most cases difficult to sell by the state. There is no effective control mechanism over the Commission’s activity; the legislation regulating has many loopholes that allow for the abuse of its powers. The last report of RiskMonitor Foundation, monitoring CEPACA, lists some of the above conclusions regarding the Commission’s performance. The report entitled “Civil Forfeiture in Bulgaria 2005-2010” was presented on 19 July in the National Assembly. One major problem in the Commission’s work is the lack of control; this situation is due to the fact that its members are appointed by the Parliament, the president and the prime minister. The media cite Stoycho Stoychev, a RiskMonitor expert, who stated that the independence of the commission can be guaranteed if all of its members were appointed by the National Assembly. He also proposed the introduction of a recall mechanism through which members of parliament could exercise control over CEPACA. The media also stress on another conclusion presented by the report, concerning the lack of clear methodology for assessing the property liable for confiscation. The practice of the Commission is to hire external appraisers, but in most cases the assessments of the Commission contradict those of the court, which has to decide on each case. The report makes the assumption that commission members may on purpose issue higher property assessments in order to claim higher efficiency.

During the discussion, the Ambassador of Germany to Bulgaria, H.E. Matthias Höpfner, and Catherine Barber, Charge d’Affairs of the Embassy of Great Britain, expressed their disappointment with the last decision of the Bulgarian Parliament which did not pass the new law on the confiscation of property acquired from crime. Both also expressed their hope that a new draft of the law will be approved in the near future.

(in Bulgarian)

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