Bulgarian officials took bribes in Bitcoin from Ukrainians

Two Bulgarian government officials have been arrested on charges of accepting cryptocurrency bribes in exchange for illegally issuing Bulgarian passports to foreign citizens.

The case file states that the defendants, who held senior positions in the National Agency for Bulgarian Citizens Abroad, illegally received bribes for issuing Bulgarian passports. The defendants are believed to have received between five and fifteen bribes every week since July 2017.

Witnesses say that if a person refused to pay a bribe, this made it difficult or significantly delayed the issuance of documents. Testimony from other witnesses confirms that the defendants made it virtually impossible for applicants to receive documents in a timely manner without paying a bribe.

The prosecution claims that Ukrainian citizens who were initially denied a Bulgarian passport subsequently paid a bribe in Bitcoin and received a Bulgarian passport. Meanwhile, the defendants claim that there is no evidence linking them to the illegal issuance of documents. And there is no evidence that any of them received any funds.

The prosecution claims that authorities seized Bitcoin wallets that prove that some of the bribes were converted into cryptocurrency.

One of the key witnesses in the case (who worked as a deputy director at the National Agency) said that he knew about the scheme to transfer bribes in cryptocurrency for several months. Another witness said that he several times handed over a bribe of 5,000 euros to the accused.

According to thenextweb.com