It has been two and half years since the entering into force of the new legislation and establishment of the CPCIAF (former CIAF). The new legislation endowed the authority with additional powers. However, the confiscation/asset recovery procedures remained the same in their nature. A recent report of the European Commission on the transposition of Directive 2014/42/EU on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime states that Bulgarian government failed to notify the Commission of complete transposition, therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of the Bulgarian legislation was not completed. Currently, the infringement procedure for non-communication remains open (see “Asset recovery and confiscation: Ensuring that crime does not pay” report (COM(2020) 217), p. 5).

Updated: October 31, 2020

According to the annual report for year 2019, on the grounds of the new legislation, which has been adopted in early 2018, the CPCIAF commenced a total of 79 cases for forfeiture of illegal assets (5 in 2018 and 74 in 2019). For comparison, the number of cases commenced on the grounds of the repealed laws in the same two-year period amount to 240. For 2019, the CPCIAF reports 14 cases decided in their favour: 23 court decisions entered into force and assets amounting BGN 8,171,657.33 (~4.2 million euro) were subjected to confiscation. For comparison, in 2018 the courts decided on confiscation of BGN 13,100,617.78 (~ 6.5 million euro), all on the grounds of the repealed laws (statistics given in the Evidence). The 2019 report also provides data of actually recovered assets for that year: the National Revenue Agency collected BGN 2,142,079.76 (a bit over 1 million EUR), most of which comes from confiscated real estates. There is no information regarding any allocation of confiscated assets for social purposes.

Updated: April 30, 2020

IMF country report from March 2019, states that 'The Commission for Counteracting Corruption and for Seizure of Illegally Acquired Property' is "fully operational".

Peer reviewer: 1

Updated: October 31, 2019

According to the annual report for year 2018 (which is the most updated data available), the Commission for Prevention of Corruption and Forfeiture of Illegal Assets (CPCIAF) commenced a total of 5 cases for forfeiture of illegal assets on the grounds of the new legislation, which has been adopted in early 2018 (1). For comparison, the cases commenced on the grounds of the repealed laws amount to 156 in the same period. For 2018 the CPCIAF also reported a total of 24 court decisions in their favour that entered into force and BGN 13,100,617.78 (~ 6.5 million euro) of assets subject to confiscation - all on the grounds of the repealed laws (2,3). The information provided by the authorities is, however, still insufficient to judge how much of these assets were actually seized by the state and what was the value at the time of the seizure. Data for the results for 2019, will be provided in the annual activity report for 2019, which is expected to be published in April 2020.

Updated: April 30, 2019

No change since spring 2018

Updated: October 30, 2018

In early 2018 the new anti-corruption law (Prevention of Corruption and Forfeiture of Illegal Assets Act) has been adopted and a new Commission for prevention of corruption and forfeiture of illegal assets established. This new body merges the former Asset Forfeiture Commission (CIAF), the former Conflict of Interests Commission, the former Centre for Prevention and Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime, and departments of the National Audit Office and the State Agency for National Security being in charge in prevention of corruption among high public officials. The law changes the structure and management model of the listed bodies, but does not upgrade the confiscation system. The amount of actually collected assets remains low. The only improvement worth to mention is the regulation for allocation of 30% of confiscated assed for social purposes, however the exact mechanism is yet to be set.

Updated: June 30, 2018