Bulgarian gambling mogul arrested in UAE

The gambling mogul from Bulgaria that is accused of leading an organised crime group was detained in UAE.

Bulgaria.- The Prosecutor General from Bulgaria has confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has detained gambling mogul Vassil Bozhkov along with another person. Bulgaria will ask for the extradition of Bozhkov.

The Bulgarian National Radio reported that the second person detained is Georgi Popov, owner of an 85% stake in Levski Professional Football Club, whose principal sponsor is Bozhkov, Bulgarian News Agency revealed. On February 1, another suspected member, Boris Bekyarov, was detained in Austria, while the authorities are still looking for Alexander Tamparov.

Bozkhov has been accused of being active in a group involved in blackmail, tax crimes, money laundering and coercion, among other things, since the beginning of 2014. The authorities believe that former Chairman of the Commission Ognemir Mitev didn’t properly check Bozkhov’s gambling business and how the fees were calculated. The lotteries allegedly ended up paying 20% to the commission and not the 15% of all bets that the law requires them to do.

Siika Mileva, Spokesperson of the Chief Prosecutor, recently said: “Bozhkov offered a gift of €5k a day to an official of the Gambling Commission, who in turn would submit to the commission proposals for revocation of licences of competing companies.”