{"id":42958,"date":"2018-09-14T11:44:08","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T09:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/?p=42958"},"modified":"2018-09-14T13:30:49","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T11:30:49","slug":"bulgarian-police-detain-bivol-investigative-reporters-while-they-attempt-to-prevent-gpgate-evidence-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bulgarian-police-detain-bivol-investigative-reporters-while-they-attempt-to-prevent-gpgate-evidence-destruction.html","title":{"rendered":"Bulgarian Police Detain Bivol Investigative Reporters While They Attempt to Prevent #GPGate Evidence Destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two journalists from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)<\/a> – Dimitar Stoyanov from Bulgaria\u2019s Bivol and Attila Biro from Rise Romania<\/a> – the Romanian partner of Bivol, were detained last night (Thursday) near the town of Radomir in western Bulgaria while trying to prevent destruction of evidence of abuses of European Union (EU) funds.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Most of the documents have been shredded <\/div><\/a>\"\"
Part of the saved documents<\/div><\/a><\/div>\n

Timeline of Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 6:30 pm on September 13, Stoyanov and Biro were tipped off about documents and equipment being taken out for the second day in a row from the headquarters of the \u201cGP Group\u201d located on \u201cCherni Vrah\u201d Boulevard in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.<\/p>\n

Two days prior to the tipoff, Bivol published evidence of large-scale and wide-spread corruption<\/a> in projects financed by the EU. It involves secret accounting books of a network of consultancy firms linked to large construction companies. Bivol has obtained non-public documentation for dozens of projects totaling BGN hundreds of millions. These include accounting files with explicitly earmarked bribes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dimitar Stoyanov<\/p><\/div>\n

Several completed projects related to the company \u201cGP Group\u201d reveal how the theft from the projects is being carried out. There are parallel bills of quantities, less work is done than planned, fewer materials are used, but everything is invoiced to the paying body as per job order and the companies receive the full amount.<\/p>\n

A day after the publication of the article, \u201cGP Group\u201d began an organized move out of documentation and equipment, something that was verified by Bivol on the spot. The effort continued the next day. Bivol associates managed to follow the vans loaded with documents. They went into the direction of Radomir where the documents were set on fire.<\/p>\n

Bivol\u2019s editorial office asked Dimitar Stoyanov and Attila Biro take pictures of the destruction of the documentation that proved to be related to European projects. Bivol\u2019s editors also notified the Ministry of the Interior because at a preliminary meeting earlier in the day the Ministry announced that after the publication, they had started looking into the case.<\/p>\n

When Stoyanov and Biro reached the crime scene – the site where documents had been burning, they found many large thrash bags with shredded paper sheets and burning folders with documents from European projects. Some of them had signatures and seals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Attile Biro – Director of Rise Romania<\/p><\/div>\n

At that moment the journalists were detained by two policemen in a patrol car belonging to the police directorate in the western city of Pernik. The officers with armored vests and handguns ordered them to lie down on the ground. Then the two journalists were handcuffed and their phones confiscated. Thirty seconds later, Stoyanov and Biro presented their press cards and ID documents. The journalists explained that they were near the fire to save likely evidence of corruption.<\/p>\n

None of this helped. In about an hour, the handcuffs were removed, but none of them was able to place or receive the phone calls guaranteed by Bulgarian law in case of a detention.<\/p>\n

Two hours after the detention, other police officers appeared at the site and while pocking around the remains of the fire, they managed to accidently enflame it once again. Twenty to 30 minutes later, the firetruck arrived and started extinguishing the burning documents. At that time Dimitar Stoyanov and Attila Biro were still under arrest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Arrest warrant for 24 hours for Attila Biro<\/p><\/div>\n

Concerned about the lack of information and because they were unable to reach their colleagues, Bivol\u2019s editors phoned the police precinct in Radomir. From there they were directed to the Pernik Regional Police Department, where they received a refusal to be provided with information and someone hung up the phone. After numerous phone calls in an attempt to clarify the situation, around 1:00 am, the press office of the Interior Ministry announced that the journalists had not been detained but had been taken to Radomir for questioning. There was no answer to a question as to why there could not be reached by phone.<\/p>\n

Following an alert by Bivol and Rise Romania, the Romanian Consul arrived from Sofia to the police precinct in Radomir. Around 1:40 am – 2:10 am, the detained journalists were taken away by police patrol officers to the same precinct to provide explanations on the case and receive their arrest warrants that are a fact refuting the Ministry of Interior press office. It turned out that the journalists had been detained because they had been in the area of a crime scene of whose existence the police had been informed by their own editors.<\/p>\n

After questioning both of them, the police launched an investigation that is likely to turn into pre-trial proceedings. Several thrash bags with burned and intact documents were brought to the Radomir police precinct, while an inspection group was dispatched to the scene.<\/p>\n

On Friday morning, the Head of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP), Ivaylo Spiridonov, spoke with Bivol’s editor-in-chief Atanas Tchobanov. He apologized for the detention and explained the situation with poor communication with the local police.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, we believe that our colleagues’ rights have been seriously violated. Nothing in the whole story explains why two journalists had been detained for nearly five hours. Nothing explains why they had not been allowed to make phone calls upon presenting valid IDs.<\/p>\n

Nothing explains why the police failed to immediately spring into action to save the burning documents, instead of keeping busy by arresting investigating reporters.<\/p>\n

Bivol\u2019s editors also express resentment at the fact that local and national police authorities did not provide the necessary assistance and accurate and timely information about what was happening to our colleagues.<\/p>\n

Headline photo: Part of the saved documents<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0#GPGate<\/a> investigation is part of the project\u00a0\u201cExposing fraud in EU-funded projects in Romania and Bulgaria\u201d of Bivol and Rise Romania, financed by the European Commission’s IJ4EU Fund and European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two journalists from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) – Dimitar Stoyanov from Bulgaria\u2019s Bivol and Attila Biro from Rise Romania – the Romanian partner of Bivol, were…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","kia_subtitle":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5543,5994,5806],"tags":[8683,8691,5109,8692,8693,8694],"class_list":["post-42958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis-en","category-b-mediafreedom-english","category-leading-en","tag-gpgate","tag-attila-biro","tag-bivol-en","tag-dimitar-stoyanov","tag-documents","tag-radomir"],"yoast_head":"\nBulgarian Police Detain Bivol Investigative Reporters While They Attempt to Prevent #GPGate Evidence Destruction - 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The embezzlement is primarily tied to funds from different European Union programs awarded under the law for public procurement. 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As revealed by The New York Times, last year she traveled to Rome for an event at the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/louvrier-gabbard.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43004,"url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/gp3.html","url_meta":{"origin":42958,"position":5},"title":"#GPGate: Owner of Land and Building on 59A \u2018Cherni Vrah\u2019 Blvd Drains Lukoil through Property Deals","author":"\u0415\u043a\u0438\u043f \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0438\u0432\u043e\u043b\u044a","date":"16 September 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The offshore \u201cPI\u201d company owns the land and the building on 59A \u201cCherni Vrah\u201d Boulevard in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, which houses the offices of \u201cGP Group\u201d and numerous consultancy firms. However, \u201cPI\u201d is closely connected with, both, \u201cGP Group\u201d and Lukoil Bulgaria, spinning together suspicious property deals that cast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investigations"","block_context":{"text":"Investigations","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/category\/investigations-en"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/gp-sgrada.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/gp-sgrada.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/gp-sgrada.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/gp-sgrada.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/gp-docs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}