18432 | 4 Oct. 2024 | 14:14
The State Prosecutor's Office will review tomorrow the measure of deviation of Jayjan Ibramov from APS, who is expected to be charged with influence peddling.
As already reported, according to the statement of the prosecutor's office sent to parliament for the lifting of parliamentary immunity, Ibramov has twice "requested and accepted a gift, which is not due to him, in order to influence decisions by officials from the Ministry of Defense in connection with their service".
On September 25th, he requested 200,000 Bulgarian levs, and on October 2nd, he received 100,000 Bulgarian levs from the same person - Miroslav Todorov.
Who is Miroslav Todorov and what is his connection to Dzheykhan Ibraymov?
Miroslav Todorov is a key participant in the organized criminal group for VAT fraud and money laundering, revealed in the summer by GDBOP and NAP, linked to drug trafficking to Western Europe, as reported by Epicenter.bg on August 25, 2024.
At that time, the GDBOP investigation indicated a criminal group for funneling VAT through dummy companies, in which Dzheykhan Ibraymov himself was also caught. The anti-mafia authorities found that Miroslav Todorov was the person who withdrew the amount of 58 million BGN from the accounts of two companies - "Angels Comp" EOOD and "SetStorm" EOOD, which played the role of the so-called "missing trader".
The scandal that erupted during the summer caused a political scandal when it turned out that Deputy Chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Dzheykhan Ibrahimov had been using a luxurious Range Rover jeep for a long time, owned by one of the companies involved in the criminal scheme. It turned out that the loyal to the honorary chairman of the Movement, Ahmed Dogan, longtime MP, had not declared the use of the jeep in his last declaration to the Commission for Prevention and Ascertainment of Corruption, submitted at the beginning of May 2024.
At that time, Ibrahimov denied being involved in the VAT frauds, denied knowing the person Miroslav Todorov, and even claimed to be a victim of the investigation.
After being caught with 100,000 Bulgarian levs in a joint operation by GDBOP and CPCONPI two days ago, it became clear that Ibraymov not only knows Miroslav Todorov very well, but it was from him that he requested the large sum of money. This literally exploded the investigators.
The big scandal is that Jehan Ibraymov continued to partner with Miroslav Todorov, despite him being accused of fraud for millions of levs. And just two months after the summer scandal, the deputy, without any concern, got involved in another criminal scheme with Todorov, who is obviously a serious criminal case.
We then revealed that the organized crime group, in which Miroslav Todorov and Jehan Ibraymov were involved, operated in two directions - in one, they evaded taxes in the trade of grain crops, and in the other, the state treasury was defrauded of at least 11 million levs. In a trade with fertilizers. Three men, including Miroslav Todorov, have been arrested.
45-year-old Miroslav Todorov had a leading role in the criminal group - he was the authorized person for the bank accounts of all "puppet" trading companies, which were used for fictitious VAT invoicing and ultimately the withdrawal and embezzlement of the budget.
A check in the Trade Register shows that Todorov is listed as a manager of dozens of companies. In one of them - "PLS Marketing Fashion" Ltd, the 46-year-old Lyubima Stoyanova, who is charged with being the leader of the criminal group, is listed as the owner.
The organized crime group has been operating for a long time, and it is believed that this was not possible without the provision of a "political cover" against inspections by the tax and other authorities.
It has been established that Miroslav Todorov is the person who withdrew the amount of 58 million Bulgarian Lev from the accounts of two companies - "Angels Comp" Ltd. and "Setstorm" Ltd., which acted as so-called "missing traders".
Todorov's involvement in a criminal group for financial fraud and money laundering is not his only criminal activity.
It turns out that he is also involved in the traffic of pseudoephedrine, a substance necessary for the synthesis of methamphetamine - "Piko".
In late August 2021, Todorov, together with another man - Trifon Mihov, were arrested in a warehouse in the Sofia district of "Druzhba" while loading a minibus with drugs. Anti-mafia authorities have discovered that Miroslav Todorov and the owner of the premises were organizing the purchase of medicines containing pseudoephedrine from Turkey. During the import of the goods, the driver - a Bulgarian citizen of Turkish origin, Ali Mehmed, declared it as required for such types of medicines, but stated that its destination was Poland and the Czech Republic, and that it would only transit through Bulgaria. At Todorov's instructions, the driver left the van in front of a warehouse in "Druzhba" and checked into a hotel on Okolovrasten Highway. During a raid by the GDBOP, Miroslav Todorov and his accomplice Trifon Mihov were arrested after removing the customs seal for the transit of medication and in the process of exchanging the goods. The two men had unloaded the medication containing narcotics and loaded the bus with cheap goods – Vitamin C tablets.
It was discovered that Todorov and Mihov had illegally imported 1,200,000 tablets of "Rinozad", containing pseudoephedrine, with a total weight of 550 kg. The anti-mafia authorities believe that this amount could have provided work for several small laboratories to synthesize methamphetamine and turn it into millions of "Piko" pills, which could be sold in Bulgaria or Western Europe.
Then, in August, notice - Jayhan Ibramov denies knowing Miroslav Todorov as well as the other participants in the VAT evasion and money laundering OPG - Krasimir Zapryanov, Aneliya Velikova, Anton Toshkov, Plamen Paskov. From his statements to the media, however, it is not clear why Ibramov uses a car owned by a company that drains the budget and why he specifically is involved with this company. It is also not clear whether he knows the owner of this company and is aware of its criminal activities. And how can he afford to drive a Jeep worth 200,000 leva with an annual salary of 100,000 leva.
Then it was not clear whether any of the accused had revealed the role of politics in providing a protective umbrella over the illegal activities of the criminal group.
Today, we may have a positive answer to this question - someone from the organized crime group has turned against MP Dzheihan Ibraymov and has facilitated the work of the agents from the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the Commission for Combating Corruption and Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property to track the activities of the APS deputy up until his capture with the marked 100,000 leva.
It is likely that the arrested Miroslav Todorov from the summer has "spoken out" and exposed Ibraymov, and subsequently became a witness to the charges, which he has redeemed his freedom with.
And it is logical that he has "betrayed" the marked money - as a "bribe". However, the fact that Ibraymov accepted them confirms the accusation's thesis for the complicity of the APS deputy with the organized crime group.
"VAT Fraudster Miro diligently recorded communications with Ibrahimov for weeks, providing the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPKONPI) with indisputable evidence against the deputy, including video recordings, chats, and phone conversations.
And of course, it was he who 'handed over' to his partner the 'marked' 100,000 leva provided by the anti-corruption commission—'the bribe'—with which he effectively 'nailed' the elected official. However, the fact that Ibrahimov accepted the money proves the prosecution's thesis regarding the deputy's involvement in the organized crime group (OCG)."
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