Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has said that Bulgaria is becoming a concern for the financial security of the euro because of counterfeit money flooding the market and because of the lack of severe sentences for counterfeiters caught by the police.
The police conducted several high-profile operations targeting counterfeit mills but the men arrested were given suspended sentences by the judiciary, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on June 3 2011.
Tsvetanov mockingly referred to those sentences as "severe" and called for the judges who gave them to be named in public.
He said: "For us to arrest the same people over and over again is unreasonable to the Bulgarian taxpayer. The public should know who are the judges who made the decision."
Tsvetanov said that he always considered the judiciary as a "natural partner", but "if there is a lack of an adequate policy, corresponding to the actual damage, then this will be interpreted as covert support for the perpetrators".
"Over the course of the past two years, we have managed to restore the confidence of our Euro-Atlantic partners. If we compare to recent months - how many printers and how much counterfeit currency was seized, then the natural question arises – wasn't there similar criminal activity in 2005-2009?" Tsvetanov said, an indirect barb at the Cabinet's predecessors.
During a police operation carried out in the capital Sofia on June 2 2011, about $100 000 counterfeit bills and a large amount of counterfeit euro bills were seized. The mission was carried out by units from the Sofia police department, the Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (CDCOC), the Bulgarian secret services, the Spanish police and Europol, the report said.
Last month, Europol director, Rob Wainwright visited Bulgaria to meet with Prime Minsiter Boiko Borissov in relation to the successful high-profile police operation carried out in Bulgaria on May 12, when police neutralised a criminal group specialising in the printing and distribution of counterfeit euro banknotes.
Source: http://www.sofiaecho.com
The police conducted several high-profile operations targeting counterfeit mills but the men arrested were given suspended sentences by the judiciary, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on June 3 2011.
Tsvetanov mockingly referred to those sentences as "severe" and called for the judges who gave them to be named in public.
He said: "For us to arrest the same people over and over again is unreasonable to the Bulgarian taxpayer. The public should know who are the judges who made the decision."
Tsvetanov said that he always considered the judiciary as a "natural partner", but "if there is a lack of an adequate policy, corresponding to the actual damage, then this will be interpreted as covert support for the perpetrators".
"Over the course of the past two years, we have managed to restore the confidence of our Euro-Atlantic partners. If we compare to recent months - how many printers and how much counterfeit currency was seized, then the natural question arises – wasn't there similar criminal activity in 2005-2009?" Tsvetanov said, an indirect barb at the Cabinet's predecessors.
During a police operation carried out in the capital Sofia on June 2 2011, about $100 000 counterfeit bills and a large amount of counterfeit euro bills were seized. The mission was carried out by units from the Sofia police department, the Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (CDCOC), the Bulgarian secret services, the Spanish police and Europol, the report said.
Last month, Europol director, Rob Wainwright visited Bulgaria to meet with Prime Minsiter Boiko Borissov in relation to the successful high-profile police operation carried out in Bulgaria on May 12, when police neutralised a criminal group specialising in the printing and distribution of counterfeit euro banknotes.
Source: http://www.sofiaecho.com
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