Bulgarian authorities arrested 20 people on suspicion of fraudulent help for non-Eu residents to get Bulgarian passports
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Prosecutors say more than 20 people have been arrested on suspicion of fraudulently helping non-EU residents get a Bulgarian passport.
The recipients are believed to have paid up to €5,000 for a certificate vouching for their Bulgarian origins.
This allowed them to apply for a Bulgarian passport, which, when granted, allows access to any country in the EU. Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office, in a statement sent to Euronews, confirmed there was an investigation underway into the selling documents for Bulgarian citizenship.It said more than 20 people from the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad — including its chairman and secretary general — on charges of bribery, malfeasance and documentary offense.
The governmental body, tasked with promoting Bulgarian culture and interests abroad, can also issue certificates to foreigners who can prove that at last one of their ancestors was Bulgarian.Reports suggest that most of the fraudulent passports were delivered to citizens from neighbouring countries including Moldova, Ukraine and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia where there are strong Bulgarian communities.
