Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

High-profile SAPARD fraud case closed due to expiry of statute of limitations

Mario Nikolov
Photo: BGNES

After 13 years at various instances the case against businessman Mario Nikolov for siphoning off millions in EU funding under the SAPARD programme has been closed due to expiry of the statute of limitations.

The case was closed by the Appellate Specialized Criminal Court. The investigation was among the first in Bulgaria connected with embezzlement of European funding in which Mario Nikolov and several other defendants were charged. According to the prosecutor’s office they received European subsidies on the basis of forged documents, passing off old meat processing machines for new.

Thus the SAPARD saga activated by an OLAF report, is now over without convictions.

Reporting by Silvia Velikova, Horizont channel.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

A boat processes the scene of the incident near Ronald Reagan National Airport, January 30, 2025

No reports of injured Bulgarian citizens in the plane crash in Washington

The Bulgarian Embassy in the USA has no reports about the presence of Bulgarian citizens on board the plane that crashed in Washington on the night of January 30, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced.  The Bulgarian diplomatic mission in..

published on 1/30/25 12:00 PM

Bulgarian authorities make efforts to establish a Tourist Guarantee Fund

Bulgaria's Minister of Tourism, Miroslav Borshosh, has held a series of meetings with business organizations in the tourism industry . The main topics of the talks were the need to introduce a Tourist Guarantee Fund, the fight against the gray sector..

published on 1/30/25 11:53 AM
Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister calls for not politicizing the Vezhen ship case

The Bulgarian State Agency for National Security has no data that among the Bulgarian crew members of the Vezhen ship detained in Sweden there are agents of foreign services or perpetrators of criminal acts , the director of the agency Plamen..

published on 1/30/25 11:50 AM