Bulgaria prosecutors to file lawsuit against MP accused of influence peddling
Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office said on January 11 that it has completed its investigation against MP Dimitar Avramov and would file a lawsuit in the near future, charging him with influence peddling.
Avramov is accused of soliciting a bribe of 220 000 leva (about 112 500 euro) – and receiving a bribe of 100 000 leva – as well as the right to use agricultural land owned by an unnamed businessman, in exchange for promising to influence decisions by local agricultural ministry officials, as well as securing police protection during the harvest season, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The alleged crimes happened in July 2012, at a time when Avramov was an MP for Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s GERB party. He was briefly arrested at the time by the organised crime police unit.
Although expelled from GERB in the aftermath, he was once again elected to the National Assembly at the April 2017 parliamentary elections, this time on the ticket of predominantly ethnic Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms.
