UPDATED Sofia-Based Businessman Detained

07.3.2023
SOFIA, 07.03.2023 07:01 | UPDATED 07.03.2023 12:10 (BTA) Police and the Sofia Regional Prosecution Office detained a Sofia-based businessman for 24 hours at his office in the centre of the Bulgarian capital on Monday, the Interior Ministry said. The law enforcers responded to a complaint from an employee who said that he had been coerced by the businessman. BTA sources identified the detainee as Veliko Zhelev. Sofia Deputy Regional Prosecutor Borislav Georgiev told a news briefing later on Tuesday that two more people are wanted for involvement in the same case. A former employee of Zehelev's was forced to sign documents making a false statement related to property disposal, Georgiev said. The initial probe was for causing bodily harm but was then changed to coercion. Searches were carried out in homes and offices on Monday night, and documents and computers were seized. The supervising prosecutor has yet to decide which prosecution office will probe the case. Bulgarian National Radio reported that police searched Zhelev’s office in Sofia and his homes in Sofia and near Varna (on the Black Sea). The station has information that the police operation is unrelated to the operation of the businessman’s construction companies. Regional Development and Public Works Minister Ivan Shishkov said he was surprised by Zhelev’s detention. Zhelev is a former head of the Road Infrastructure Agency and chairs the Board of Directors of Hydrostroy AD. The company describes itself as "a national leader in the field of design, implementation, maintenance and reconstruction of residential, public, industrial and infrastructure sites". In July 2022, Capital weekly said that "together with its old and new informal satellites, the Hydrostroy group is the number one builder in Bulgaria with revenue totaling BGN 450 million for 2020, all generated by central and local government procurement. contracts". Hydrostroy is involved in a number of controversial road construction projects, including the Hemus Motorway and the Sofia Northern Speed Tangent. /LG/ LYUBOMIR GIGOV, The Sofia Regional Prosecution Office (BTA Photo), source& https://www.bta.bg/en/news/bulgaria/419154-sofia-based-businessman-detained