Crime in Bulgaria
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Crime in Bulgaria is combated by the Bulgarian police and other agencies. The United States Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security ranks Bulgaria's crime rating as High.


Crime by type


Murder

In 2018, Bulgaria had a murder rate of 1.8 per 100,000 population. There were a total of 155 murders in Bulgaria in 2016. Contract killings by organized crime was a problem but mostly decreased following the arrest of five “Killers” gang members starting in 2010. In 2014, another “Killers” group was suspected of being responsible for the contract killing of Customs officers in 1998. In 2014, four contract murders that targeted criminals were reported. One suspect was eventually arrested.


Corruption

Corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
is a problem in Bulgaria. In 2011, a survey showed that one out of every four Bulgarians who dealt with doctors, police officers, customs officials or judges offered money, a gift or a favour to see their problems solved. In 2006 the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
established goals for Bulgaria to improve its fight against
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
and
organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
. In the 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, Bulgaria ranked 86th out of 182 countries. They scored a 3.3 with 10 the highest possible. Corruption is viewed as an obstacle to doing business in Bulgaria. Kickbacks and bribes are a norm in the public procurement sector, a practice which decreases opportunities for foreign investors. Domestic companies sometimes face demands for payments or bribes when they register their business or try to get access to public utilities. Bulgaria's criminal code outlaws many types of corruption, but enforcement of the laws is weak. Bulgaria's voters voted in a parliamentary election on March 26, 2017. This was the country's third major election since 2013. According to Transparency International Bulgaria, “Bulgarian citizens are disappointed with the functioning of institutions.”


Corruption Perceptions Index

The
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...
, published by
Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...
, scores countries on how corrupt their public sectors are viewed. Countries are ranked from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Bulgaria's 2016 score was 41. Among the 176 countries scored, Bulgaria was ranked number 75—tied with Kuwait, Tunisia and Turkey. The table shows Bulgaria's scores between 2012 and 2016:


European Commission Bulgarian corruption benchmarks

In 2006 the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
established goals for Bulgaria to improve its fight against
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
and
organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
. /sup> These goals were based on the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty of Accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania, and opinions expressed by EU member states. The Commission noted specific problematic areas in the accountability and efficiency of the
judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudication, adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and app ...
and
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
systems. The European Commission adopted a series of specific benchmarks for Bulgaria to reach: # “Adopt constitutional amendments removing any ambiguity regarding the independence and accountability of the judicial system.” # “Ensure a more transparent and efficient judicial process by adopting and implementing a new judicial system act and the new civil procedure code. Report on the impact of these new laws and of the penal and administrative procedure codes, notably on the pre-trial phase.” # “Continue the reform of the judiciary in order to enhance professionalism, accountability and efficiency. Evaluate the impact of this reform and publish the results annually.” # “Conduct and report on professional, non-partisan investigations into allegations of high-level corruption. Report on internal inspections of public institutions and on the publication of assets of high-level officials.” # “Take further measures to prevent and fight corruption, in particular at the borders and within local government.” # “Implement a strategy to fight organised crime, focusing on serious crime, money laundering as well as on the systematic confiscation of assets of criminals. Report on new and ongoing investigations, indictments and convictions in these areas.”


Corporate raiding

Corporate raiding is the practice of illegally taking over a company via manipulation of government power. It has three main components: # A corrupt judiciary that fabricates (makes up) criminal charges against the victim; # A corrupt media that, in coordination with the government, runs a “black PR” campaign, which spreads lies about the victim's company (usually causing a panic among the company's customers); # Corrupt regulatory officials who use government power to seize the target's asset and distribute them to the criminals. In 2014,
Corporate Commercial Bank Corporate Commercial Bank AD ( bg, „Корпоративна търговска банка“ АД), commonly called Corpbank, was a Bulgarian bank. Corpbank was a universal bank, serving both as a traditional commercial bank, as well as an inves ...
—the country's fourth largest bank whose financial portfolio made up ten percent of Bulgaria's GDP—was hit by a
bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may cease to function in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks no ...
after prosecutors and the media televised a raid of the bank's offices. Soon thereafter, criminal charges were filed against the bank's owner, Tzevetan Vassilev. Many officials believe the bank run was organized by a group of senior-level government officials. After the bank run, the bank collapsed, “causing a financial crisis in the country and widespread economic hardship for Bulgarian citizens.” According to ''Balkan Business Wire'', “Between 2013 and 2014, the country of Bulgaria saw one of its largest and most successful banks demolished by a trio of a corrupt judiciary, corrupt media, and corrupt government officials in a classic corporate raiding scheme.” Corporate Commercial Bank's financial portfolio made up ten percent of the Bulgaria's GDP. After the corporate raiding scheme was carried out, the bank was shut down, its assets were stolen, and depositors lost their savings.


Organised crime

Bulgarian organised crime groups are involved in a wide range of activities, including
drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...
,
cigarette smuggling The illicit cigarette trade is defined as “the production, import, export, purchase, sale, or possession of tobacco goods which fail to comply with legislation” (FATF 2012). Illicit cigarette trade activities fall under 3 categories: # Cont ...
,
human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
,
prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
,
illicit antiquities The antiquities trade is the exchange of antiquities and archaeological artifacts from around the world. This trade may be illicit or completely legal. The legal antiquities trade abides by national regulations, allowing for extraction of artifact ...
trafficking,
extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
(often under the cover of ostensible
security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
and
insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
companies) and the arms trade. They appear to have connections with the
Russian Mafia Russian organized crime or Russian mafia (, ), otherwise known as Bratva (), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The initialism OPG is Organized Criminal (''prestupnaya'' in Russian) Gr ...
,
Serbian Mafia Serbian organized crime or Serbian mafia ( sr, Cpпска мафија / Srpska mafija) are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the former Yugoslavia and Serbian diaspora. The organizations are primari ...
, and the
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...
.


Human trafficking

Bulgaria is a source and, to a lesser extent, a transit and destination country for women and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced prostitution and men, women, and children subjected to conditions of forced labor."Bulgaria"
''Trafficking in Persons Report 2010''
U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
(June 14, 2010).


By location


Varna

The city of
Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...
is known to be the main hub for Bulgarian organized crime. Some sectors of the economy, including gambling, corporate security, tourism, real estate, and professional sports, are believed to be controlled in part by business groups with links to Communist-era secret services or the military; the TIM group, based in Varna, is one example.''Editor-in-chief of Varna daily brutally assaulted'' (Bulgarian Helsinki Committee). Retrieved 2007-02-10


See also

*
Macedonian Mafia The Macedonian mafia ( mk, Македонска мафија, translit=Makedonska mafija) is the body of illegal gangs and criminal organisations operating in North Macedonia and within the Macedonian diaspora. The organizations are primarily ...


References

{{Crime in Europe