A record-high bail of 300 000 leva was imposed by the Sofia City Court on energy tycoon and one of the richest Bulgarians, Hristo Kovachki, the Prosecutor-General's Office said in Novemeber 12 2008.

Prosecutors have launched a pri-trial investigation against Kovachki on suspicion of tax and real estate frauds, searching the offices of 17 of his companies. Kovachki confirmed the news to Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), saying that he has had a meeting with the investigators earlier in the day.

"They called my secretary and asked me to appear for an interview, which I did two hours later," he told BNR. He said that he was told the investigation was into alleged tax fraud committed between 2005 and 2007. Kovachki denied all accusations and said that he was willing to co-operate to prove his innocence.

He said that he did not have the 300 000 leva in cash but would come up with the money before the legal deadline. There was no injunction on him from leaving the country, he said.

"The good thing is that now we can tell the European Commission that we have set a record-high bail on someone with good economic influence in Bulgaria," he told BNR. Kovachki was recently named by the Polish magazine Wprost as in the top 100 richest people in South-Eastern Europe, ranking 98th with an estimated fortune of $700 million.

A day before prosecutors decided officially accuse Kovachki, he told Bulgarian-language 24 Chassa daily that authorities were more than welcome to check his companies for any kind of problems. He asked for the checks after months of speculation that there was something wrong with his business, which ranges from thermal power plants and an insurance company to a retail food chain operating in both Bulgaria and Serbia.

Kovachki's main business interests are in the energy sector. One of his companies cotrols 70 per cent of Atomenergoremont, which provides maintenance to the country' only nuclear power plant at Kozloduy on the Danube River.

The company became the focus of public attention in April, when its executive director Boris Georgiev was assassinated in front of his home in Sofia.

Next to that, Kovachki owns several heating utilities around the country, coal mines and has recently been chosen to buy the Bobov Dol thermal power plant from the state. He also controls Sofia city hall's Municipal Bank and bought earlier this week the city hall's municipal insurance company. Kovachki's portfolio also includes food retailer Evropa and a private health insurance fund. He has companies in Serbia as well.

Lately, Kovachki showed interest in politics, openly supporting the newly formed Lider party and the new political alliance Napred (translated as "ahead" in Bulgarian) that it formed with several others small parties.