Bulgaria

General Information

Bulgaria has a broad framework of institutions specialized in fighting corruption.

As part of the implementation of the 2015 – 2020 Anti-Corruption Strategy, the Bulgarian government appointed a national coordinator at the level of Deputy Prime Minister and established a National Council on Anti-Corruption Policies, as an inter-institutional body with consultative, coordinating and control functions and a Civil Council thereto – to monitor the implementation of the anti-corruption policies.

Bulgaria established a specialized court to deal with crimes committed by organized criminal groups and since 2018 its jurisdiction also included corruption-related crimes committed by senior public officials.

The competencies for investigating corruption are shared by investigating magistrates with the Prosecutor’s Office and the investigating police officers within the Ministry of the Interior.

The main institution responsible for implementation of anti-corruption policies and confiscation of illegally acquired property is the Commission on Countering Corruption and Illegal Assets Forfeiture[1].

Other anti-corruption bodies include: Chef Inspectorate to the Council of Ministers and inspectorates within the line Ministries and other government agencies, Commissions on Professional Ethics to the Judges’ and Prosecutors’ Cambers and the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council; the National Audit Office, the Public Procurement Agency, the National Revenue Agency, etc.

[1] The Commission, which was formed in 2018, merged the formerly existing commissions for confiscation of illegal assets and for prevention and identification of conflict of interests, as well as the Centre for Prevention and Counteraction of Corruption and Organized Crime and the relevant units of the National Audit Office and the State Agency for National Security.

Corruption Perception Surveys