Post by depletedreasons on Dec 14, 2007 3:38:22 GMT -5
Think tank says crime groups spent 100m euros on Bulgarian local elections
13/12/2007
Bulgarian organised crime groups spent up to 100m euros to buy votes in recent municipal elections, a think tank said on Wednesday. The gangs made much of that money from the sex trade.
(AFP, Reuters, Sofia Echo, Sofia News Agency, News.bg, Mediapool, Dnevnik, Focus News Agency, Center for the Study of Democracy - 12/12/07)
Around 100m euros was spent on vote buying in Bulgaria’s latest municipal elections, according to the Center for the Study of Democracy. [Getty Images]
Bulgarian organised crime groups invested between 75m and 100m euros in an unprecedented vote buying spree that marred the country's October municipal elections, a prominent Bulgarian think tank said on Wednesday (December 12th).
"Such a widespread, mass campaign of vote buying has never taken place in Bulgaria," an analyst at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), Tihomir Bezlov, said at a round table in Sofia, announcing the findings of a new report on organised crime in the Balkan country.
The analysis of latest trends and manifestations of syndicate crime suggested that emerging Bulgarian oligarchs -- former company managers, political leaders and former security officers -- are seeking to expand their influence over politicians, magistrates and civil servants.
"The oligarchic structures have begun to redistribute national wealth and legalise their businesses through politicians and funding of all political parties," Bezlov told participants in the forum.
According to the CSD report, "Organised Crime in Bulgaria: Markets and Trends", an average of about 20 lawmakers within the last two parliaments' mandates actively promoted legislation "in the interest of economic structures linked to organised crime".
Participants in the round table included Interior Minister Rumen Petkov and several ambassadors, among them Michael Geier of Germany and John Beyrle of the United States, who recently urged Bulgarian media and the public to condemn the practice of vote buying as unacceptable.
The recent municipal elections have shown that organised crime is entrenching itself in the local administration, Geier said, concluding that Bulgaria hasn't done enough to fight organised crime and corruption.
The CSD analysis also indicated that sex trafficking and prostitution have become the most profitable businesses of Bulgarian criminal gangs, which are said to be among the top exporters of sex workers to Western Europe along with Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Those running the Bulgarian prostitution market are said to be making between 55m and 85m euros a year, only a small share of what the export of Bulgarian women as sex slaves brings.
"According to even the most conservative estimates, Bulgarian prostitutes working abroad earn between 0.9 to 1.8 billion euros a year, the equivalent of 3.6% to 7.2% of the GDP in 2006," the AFP quoted Bezlov as saying.
Bulgarian organised crime groups' annual profits from trade in drugs and stolen cars are estimated at between 54m and 117m euros, and 27m euros, respectively.
"Crime makes countries weak and the money that should support national budgets and urgent social problems is siphoned off into private pockets," Beyrle noted on Wednesday. "That money can be used to buy politicians, votes, and influence. It makes Bulgaria weak. And we need Bulgaria, as our partner and ally in NATO, and as a member of the EU, to be strong."
www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/12/13/feature-01
13/12/2007
Bulgarian organised crime groups spent up to 100m euros to buy votes in recent municipal elections, a think tank said on Wednesday. The gangs made much of that money from the sex trade.
(AFP, Reuters, Sofia Echo, Sofia News Agency, News.bg, Mediapool, Dnevnik, Focus News Agency, Center for the Study of Democracy - 12/12/07)
Around 100m euros was spent on vote buying in Bulgaria’s latest municipal elections, according to the Center for the Study of Democracy. [Getty Images]
Bulgarian organised crime groups invested between 75m and 100m euros in an unprecedented vote buying spree that marred the country's October municipal elections, a prominent Bulgarian think tank said on Wednesday (December 12th).
"Such a widespread, mass campaign of vote buying has never taken place in Bulgaria," an analyst at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), Tihomir Bezlov, said at a round table in Sofia, announcing the findings of a new report on organised crime in the Balkan country.
The analysis of latest trends and manifestations of syndicate crime suggested that emerging Bulgarian oligarchs -- former company managers, political leaders and former security officers -- are seeking to expand their influence over politicians, magistrates and civil servants.
"The oligarchic structures have begun to redistribute national wealth and legalise their businesses through politicians and funding of all political parties," Bezlov told participants in the forum.
According to the CSD report, "Organised Crime in Bulgaria: Markets and Trends", an average of about 20 lawmakers within the last two parliaments' mandates actively promoted legislation "in the interest of economic structures linked to organised crime".
Participants in the round table included Interior Minister Rumen Petkov and several ambassadors, among them Michael Geier of Germany and John Beyrle of the United States, who recently urged Bulgarian media and the public to condemn the practice of vote buying as unacceptable.
The recent municipal elections have shown that organised crime is entrenching itself in the local administration, Geier said, concluding that Bulgaria hasn't done enough to fight organised crime and corruption.
The CSD analysis also indicated that sex trafficking and prostitution have become the most profitable businesses of Bulgarian criminal gangs, which are said to be among the top exporters of sex workers to Western Europe along with Russia, Ukraine and Romania. Those running the Bulgarian prostitution market are said to be making between 55m and 85m euros a year, only a small share of what the export of Bulgarian women as sex slaves brings.
"According to even the most conservative estimates, Bulgarian prostitutes working abroad earn between 0.9 to 1.8 billion euros a year, the equivalent of 3.6% to 7.2% of the GDP in 2006," the AFP quoted Bezlov as saying.
Bulgarian organised crime groups' annual profits from trade in drugs and stolen cars are estimated at between 54m and 117m euros, and 27m euros, respectively.
"Crime makes countries weak and the money that should support national budgets and urgent social problems is siphoned off into private pockets," Beyrle noted on Wednesday. "That money can be used to buy politicians, votes, and influence. It makes Bulgaria weak. And we need Bulgaria, as our partner and ally in NATO, and as a member of the EU, to be strong."
www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/12/13/feature-01