Treasure trove punishes criminal elites on the Bulgarian political spectrum.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today imposed sanctions against five current or former Bulgarian government officials-Rumen Stoyanov Ovcharov (Ovcharov), Alexander Hristov Nikolov (Nikolov), Ivan Kirov Genov (Genov), Nikolai Simeonov Malinov (Malinov), and Vladislav Ivanov Goranov (Goranov) - for their extensive involvement in corruption in Bulgaria.

OFAC also sanctioned four entities owned or controlled by Malinov and one entity owned or controlled by Goranov. These individuals and organizations are designated pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which is based on the Magnitsky Accounts Act and seeks to prosecute individuals''country'.

Now's actions continue previous OFAC

sanctions.

against Delyan Peevski, Vasil Bojkov, Ilko Zhelyazkov and related organizations. In addition to these measures, today the UK has also placed Peevski, Boykov and Zhelyazkov on the sanctions list under the UK's Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regime. These actions demonstrate the U.S. government's continued commitment to maintaining a multipolar partnership and holding accountable those involved in and responsible for corruption in Bulgaria.

In addition, Ovcharov, Nikolov, Goranov, and their immediate family members are now subject to visa restrictions from the State Department under the''Section 7031(c) of the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Act. Section 7031(c) provides that in cases where the Secretary has information that foreign officials have engaged in serious corruption or gross human rights violations, those individuals and their immediate family members are ineligible to enter the United States. Click here for more information on appointments under Section 7031(c).

The entrenched corruption in Bulgarian institutions

The individuals appointed today have held public office for many years, spanning several administrations and policy areas. Their diverse profiles and''s power plant in Bulgaria, owned by the government through the Bulgarian Energy Holding Company, where he worked for 30 years in various positions.

Ivan Kirov Genov is also a former executive director of KNPP and was a BSP member of parliament from 2017 to 2019.

Ovcharov repeatedly entered into corrupt energy contracts with Russian energy companies, receiving bribes and other contributions in exchange for fixed-price contracts for Russian gas and nuclear fuel, as well as contracts to support KNPP. Ovcharov has received more than five million euros in offshore bank accounts since he served as energy minister. One of the results of the nuclear fuel contracts negotiated by Ovcharov's intermediaries,'' he said. 'is the overpayment of up to 50 million euros to KNPP, which generated multimillion-dollar profits for the participants in the fraud. Ovcharov also capitalized on inflated energy costs in Bulgaria by introducing unnecessary intermediaries into the electricity market. For example, even though KNPP had a contract to sell electricity directly to the Bulgarian National Electric Company (NEK), Ovcharov worked with Nikolov to negotiate contracts to purchase electricity from KNPP, which they then resold to NEK, profiting at the expense of the Bulgarian government and people.

Ovcharov, Nikolov, and Genov cooperated by diverting KNPP service contracts to their own business interests, avoiding prosecution by Bulgarian officials through offshore''management. Profiting from these corrupt contracts continued until at least 2020, when businesses backed by Ovcharov won a service contract with KNPP and gave him his share of the proceeds. In addition, Nikolov and Genov agreed to accept bribes of five million Bulgarian leva from foreign nuclear executives in exchange for guarantees of contracts with KNPP. Even after resigning as executive director of KNPP, Genov demanded three million Bulgarian leva in bribes from Bulgarian business executives to facilitate a review of KNPP's contract awards in favor of their companies.

OFAC designates Ovcharov, Nikolov, and Genov pursuant to Executive Order 13818 for being''After he was arrested and charged with spying for Russian interests and banned from traveling abroad in September 2019, Malinov bribed a Bulgarian judge to allow him to travel to Russia and personally receive a Friendship Medal from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he was awarded 2.5 million rubles.

OFAC designates Malinov under Executive Order 13818 for being a foreign person who is a current or former government official, or a person acting on his behalf, who is responsible for or facilitates corruption, including embezzlement of government assets, putting his hands on private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts''or natural resource extraction or bribery.

OFAC also designates four organizations - Inter Trade 2021 EOOD, MS Konsult 2016 EOOD, Russophiles National Movement, and Russophiles for the Revival of the Fatherland Political Party - under Executive Order 13818 for being owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by Malinov.

Legislative manipulation

Vladislav Ivanov Goranov served in the Bulgarian parliament and was finance minister in the second and third governments of the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party from November 2014 to January 2017 and again from May 2017 to July 2020. Goranov is also linked to oligarch and former Bulgarian MP Delyan Peevski, who has also been sanctioned by OFAC.

Goranov'.