Catalonia Starts Investigating Bulgarian Prime Minister For Money Laundering - Reports

Catalonia Starts Investigating Bulgarian Prime Minister for Money Laundering - Reports

The Catalan autonomous police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, and the anti-corruption department of the Spanish Prosecutor General's Office have launched an investigation into Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's possible involvement in money laundering in Spain, media reported on Friday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st February, 2020) The Catalan autonomous police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, and the anti-corruption department of the Spanish Prosecutor General's Office have launched an investigation into Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's possible involvement in money laundering in Spain, media reported on Friday.

According to Catalonia's El Periodico newspaper, the investigation is related to a wider international money laundering case started by the Catalan police after it received a compliant in March from Bulgarian NGO MC BUUP about suspected fraud on the part of former Bulgarian model Borislava Yovcheva, who is said to have had a relationship with the prime minister.

According to the newspaper, she acquired luxury property in Barcelona, including a villa worth three million euros (over $3.2 million), via two companies Numin Invest SL and EMA BGS SL headquartered in the Catalan capital. According to the inquiry, these firms received over five million euros since 2013 from individuals who are not permanent residents of Spain.

According to the Mossos d'Esquadra, MC BUUP's complaint said that the money could be associated with undeclared funds of senior Bulgarian government officials. Within the context, the the police force has requested that the income, tax returns, bank cells, credit cards and other bank details of Yovcheva and several other individuals be checked.

With regard to the Borissov investigation, police said they would not make the details public until the probe was finished, El Periodico reported.

The prime minister has meanwhile denied any wrongdoing.