European prosecutors search Bulgarian ski resort in probe into Covid-19 subsidy fraud

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, is leading searches in two hotels in a Bulgarian ski resort in an investigation into Covid-19 subsidy fraud, EPPO said on March 28.

The ski resort was not named in the EPPO statement.

In 2020 and 2021, the company under investigation obtained 220 000 euro from the European Social Fund (ESF) under three Operational Programmes.

The subsidies were intended to compensate for the staff’s remuneration when tourism came to a halt during the pandemic.

It is suspected that some of the employees were asked by their employer to return a part of the salaries they received and that documents were forged on their behalf to prove that they did receive the financial compensation, EPPO said.

The suspicion was reported by Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security and the searches this morning were conducted by the General Directorate of the National Police, the statement said.

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