Bulgarian prosecutors charge manager over defrauding EU funds for ‘guest house’
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Plovdiv has laid criminal charges against a company manager in connection with the receipt of a grant of more than 371 000 leva European Union funding for a “guest house” not used as such.
A statement by the Prosecutor’s Office said that the charges were laid on March 5. It disclosed the manager’s age as 58 but did not give her name, only her initials.
The statement said that the company manager had submitted untrue information to the district directorate of the State Fund Agriculture in Pazardzhik and the rural development directorate in Plovdiv in connection with a project to build a guest house in the town of Batak in the Pazardzhik district.
To receive the money, the company was obliged to have a business plan providing for the house to accommodate guests, to help in developing tourism in the municipality, and to take on seven employees.
Instead, the house, completed in 2012, was put to the private use of the manager, no guests were accommodated and no employees hired.
Should the accused be found guilty, she could face between two and eight years in prison. She is currently out on bail of 10 000 leva.
The statement said that the prosecution was the result of a check ordered by the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office of EU funding for guest houses and whether it was used as intended.
