Impact of Statues of Limitations in Corruption Cases

IMPACT OF STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS IN CORRUPTION CASES AFFECTING EU FINANCIAL INTERESTS |

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THE VESELIN GEORGIEV CASE (BULGARIA)

VAT FRAUDS. THE “SCANDAL OF SCANDALS” IN GREECE

Veselin Georgiev, the former executive director of the National Road Infrastructure Fund, was prose-

cuted for abuse of funds granted via the Eurofund initiative

and was accused of embezzling almost

100,000 BGN (over 50,000 Euro). Veselin Georgiev granted his brothers Boyko and Emil 120 million BGN

(over 60 million Euro)

The limitation period for the crime, committed in 2007, expired in 2014. Delays occurred because of the

defendant’s failure to appear in Court and a never-ending pre-litigation phase, with proceedings set to

start in March 2012. Multiple resubmissions of the case followed, also because of difficulties in establi-

shing the moment when the crime had been committed.

When the case reached the court in 2015, it became clear, right from the very first court session, that the

absolute limitation period had expired for two of the perpetrators and charges were dropped for both.

This scandal was revealed in 2001 when the Financial Crime and Economic Unit (SDOE) conducted an

ordinary audit of a company located in the area of Nea Moudania. The outcome of the audit was that

the company, supposed to be active in exports to European countries, was, in fact, an office with just a

phone. Surprisingly, its owners had received astounding amounts of money in VAT returns. The matter

was further investigated and it was found that several similar companies in Thessaloniki had been pro-

ducing fictitious invoices to show intra-EU exports of various products that had never occurred and had

been receiving large amounts of money from the return of taxes, since the competent tax authorities

had failed to conduct proper audits. Many cases have now been adjudicated by the criminal courts of

Thessaloniki and a few tax officers have been found guilty of bribery and infidelity in the public service

and have been convicted even to life imprisonment while others have been jailed.

Although the exact damage caused to the Greek state has not been calculated yet, it is estimated to

amount to millions of euros. Although the scandal is still being investigated, an astounding number of

cases that took place more than fifteen years ago, at the end of the 1990s (1998-2000), are now about

to become statute barred.

European Commission, Flash Eurobarometer 428, Report on Business Attitudes towards Corruption in the EU, 43 (2015).

Other defendants of the case were Radoslav Kolev, the chairman of the Student Community Centre “St. George” in

Plovdiv and Emiliya Popova, the Director of the associations “Regional and European developments of Karlovo” and

“Evridika 98”.

Because of this scandal, the European Commission blocked temporarily 115,4 million Euro from the ISPA program and

50 million euro from the Phare program.