Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria Ivan Geshev sent letters to the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe, the European Committee on Crime Problems, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola about the difficulties arising in relation to the application of the European Convention on Extradition of Bulgarian citizens from the Republic of Serbia.
Sofia City Prosecutor's Office (SCPO) has initiated and is conducting pre-trial proceedings for extremely serious cross-border criminal offences related to an organized criminal group for money laundering, tax crimes and computer fraud and damage caused in different countries.
The Group was active from the beginning of 2018 to 12 January 2023 оn the territories of the Republic of Bulgaria, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Swiss Confederation and the Cayman Islands. In the course of the investigative actions carried out so far, evidence has been collected which shows that a number of transactions have been made to avoid the sanctions regime imposed in relation to the Russian Federation.
Four persons, including K.K. and A.T., have been charged in the pre-trial proceedings. European Arrest Warrants have been issued against both of them.
On 04.04.2023, the Prosecutor's Office was informed by the International Operational Cooperation Directorate at the Ministry of the Interior that the two persons were declared internationally wanted in the Schengen Information System with alert entered in accordance with Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and the Council, and also through the International Criminal Police Organization - Interpol.
On 07.04.2023, information was received from the Interpol National Bureau in Belgrade, through the Directorate of International Operational Cooperation at the Ministry of the Interior, that the two accused, K.K. and A.T., had arrived on 06.04.2023 at 23.05 at Belgrade Airport, Republic of Serbia, by flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. On the same day, under the European Convention on Extradition, translations into Serbian of the requests for international wanted and temporary detention of the accused were sent urgently through Interpol to the Serbian authorities. Already on 07.04.2023 a fax message was received from the General Secretariat of Interpol that the documents had been received.
In his letter Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev stated that the Republic of Serbia had not fulfilled the obligation under Article 16, paragraph 3 of the European Convention on Extradition and had not taken immediate action for the temporary detention of the wanted persons and the immediate notification of Bulgaria about the result of the requests sent to the Serbian authorities regarding the accused K.K. and A.T. In this way the wanted persons are allowed to evade criminal liability in Bulgaria.
"The case is unprecedented; such a case of non-implementation of international treaty in the field of criminal law has not been established so far in our practice," the letter reads.
Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev requests in the letter for an urgent procedure to be initiated to solve, in the spirit of friendship, the difficulties arising with regard to the application of the European Convention on Extradition.