Seized property over the last five years is worth merely BGN 10.5 mln

The real estate market at present

Property worth BGN 677 mln was placed under distraint but merely 12 cases were won in court

Over the last five years, the Commission known until recently as "the Kushlev Commission", managed to seize property for the benefit of the State worth just over BGN 8.1 mln, despite the fact that it has blocked money and placed goods under distraint worth BGN 677 mln, showed a report of the Risk Monitor Foundation, presented yesterday in Parliament. By April 2011, confiscated properties increased to BGN 10.5 mln. Merely 12 cases were won in court, out of 523 imposed distraints, while the submitted seizure claims were 263. "The Commission is not doing well in terms of its final results" concluded the NGO.

The report showed that the Commission was strong in blocking property but not in its final confiscation in favour of the State. The imposition of securing measures was the main tool in its work over the years, i.e. the placement of property under distraint which went far beyond the claims for confiscation submitted in court.

The inflated evaluation of property is another problem. According to analysts, there is no unified methodology for evaluation. The Commission has assessed the property targeted for placement under distraint at over BGN 16 mln, and the court – at BGN 10, 5 mln. For example, in one of the cases, the claim for confiscation was for almost BGN 3 mln, but the court upheld a claim at the amount of merely BGN 282,000. According to Risk Monitor, one of the reasons might be that the Commission did it deliberately in order to "show the results of its work in a favourite light."

"Over the years, the Commission emphasised mainly the work already completed and not all cases, and thus it managed to hide its failures," summarised the experts from Risk Monitor. The data showed that a small part of all cases had ended in convictions, and most of these remained without any further development. In 2006, there were only two cases ending in conviction, in 2007 – 1, in 2008 - 5, and in 2009 - 6. The ratio of cases that have been ruled on to the rest is 8% to 88%.

 

Text and photo: www.klassa.bg

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(04.08.2011)