site.btaInvestBulgaria Agency Ex-Executive Director Indicted in Connection with "Golden Passports"

A former executive director of the InvestBulgaria Agency (IBA) has been indicted in connection with the allegedly irregular issuance of "golden passports" to Russian and Chinese nationals, the prosecution service said on Tuesday.

The press release specified that the Sofia City Prosecution Office has enforced criminal liability against St. Ya., accusing him of dereliction of his official duties as IBA executive director between July 28, 2015 and July 28, 2020 for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for himself or for another, with the act resulting in significant harmful effects in terms of undermining public trust in the functioning and exercise of the powers of executive authorities and creating mistrust in IBA.

The IBA executive director during the period in question was Stamen Yanev.  

The prosecutors acted in response to an alert from an MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF), submitted in February 2022, alleging that the requirements of the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act and the Investment Promotion Act and the relevant statutory instruments of secondary legislation for their implementation has been violated. According to the whistle blower, the beneficiaries of the procedures were mainly Russian and Chinese citizens who became naturalized Bulgarian citizens, which entitled them to reside anywhere in the EU. 

The investigation into the case is in progress. A broad range of facts and circumstances has yet to be clarified, and if sufficient evidence of other acts and/or the culpability of other purposes is collected, new charges will be brought, the prosecution service said.

Yanev was questioned at the National Investigation Service on March 1. He then told the media that Russian investments in Bulgaria are mainly in real estate and specified that the IBA does not promote and encourage this activity. "There are very few investment project involving Russian capital. The major investors in this country, who are certified by the Agency, are from Germany in particular and from Western Europe in particular," he explained. 

In early December 2022, MRF MP Hamid Hamid told a news briefing that his party will be insisting on results of the checks conducted by the State Agency for National Security and the prosecution service into the passports of convenience scheme.

Earlier, Hamid said he had received an alert from a source he declined to identify which alleged the existence of a "monstrous golden passports scheme" in which over 120 persons, mainly Chinese and Russians, had obtained residence permits in the 2015-2021 period under false pretence by remitting an identical amount of money through a particular bank. According to the alert, all investments made were identical and amounted to BGN 1,000,001. The MRF MP fingered Yanev as issuing all certificates.

Under the then effective legislation, third-country nationals could obtain a permanent resident status if they invested at least BGN 1 million and could be granted Bulgarian citizenship for a minimum BGN 2 million investment without going through the cumbersome and time-consuming standard procedure. 

For years, Bulgaria had stubbornly resisted scrapping that scheme despite being pressured to do so by its Euro-Atlantic partners. The MRF defended the scheme until December 2021, when it did an about-face and launched a fierce attack against it.