Mario Nikolov Acquitted

Sofia Court of Appeal acquitted Mario Nikolov, Mariana Nikolova, Anna Sharkova and Valentin Angelov on charges of money laundering and organization of criminal group, in connection to a fraud scheme in the EU SAPARD program. The verdict was announced by the 7th Court Chamber chaired by Kalin Kalpakchiev. On Sept. 14 Mr Kalpakchiev was elected member of the new Supreme Judicial Council from the Judicial quota. In 2010 the Court of First Instance acquitted the other major culprit, Lyudmil Stoykov, but Nikolov and his wife Mariana were found guilty.

The fraud in SAPARD program is the target of a separate trial. In August 2012, however, it was also returned by the Court of Appeals in the pre-trial phase due to shortcomings in the preparation of the indictment. The charges in the latter case are focused on buying old machines described and paid as new. This scheme is not a novelty for public procurement in Bulgaria. It was the year 1900 when the government bought from German suppliers scrapped railroad cars instead of new.

Read more in dnevnik daily (in Bulgarian).