Appellate court overturns sentence of Bulgaria’s former revenue agency chief
Sofia Appellate Court overturned on June 20 the four-year sentence handed in 2011 to Maria Mourgina, the former head of the National Revenue Agency.
Mourgina was convicted on charges of ordering a subordinate to alter a tax review report, which allegedly saved a textile firm 1.32 million leva in corporate taxes. In addition to the four-year sentence, Mourgina was barred from holding any office in the state administration for a period of six years.
The lower court, however, found her innocent on charges of improper declaration of properties and other instances of abusing her position.
Mourgina declined to speak to reporters after the appellate court’s decision, but said that “sooner or later truth comes out.”
The lawsuit against Mourgina was among the first launched under the current Cabinet against a senior civil servant appointed under the previous government. The case was delayed in lower court when the judge returned to prosecutors because of procedural irregularities.
(Photo: creationc/sxc.hu)
