Production of counterfeit Bulgarian identity cards to be used in real estate fraud is booming, Bulgarian National Television (BNT) said on August 31 2009.
 
Notary Chamber head Dimitar Tanev, appearing on BNT breakfast television, said that one way to combat such fraud would be to allow controlled access to the database of the country’s Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the issuing of identity cards.
 
This would enable notaries to check the authenticity of cards when presented with them in support of applications for real estate transfers, Tanev said.
 
Access to the land register should also be made public, but only to limited categories of authorised people, he said.
 
He said that a typical scheme by which criminals initiated real estate fraud was to inspect the land register to establish the structure of ownership and then to begin building up false documentation.
 
Part of the problem was that details of identity documents and title deeds became widespread because these were requested when people applied for contracts at mobile operators, at energy companies and water suppliers.
 
Tanev’s statements were a sequel to the announcement by the Interior Ministry in the previous week that an alleged organised crime group, including a lawyer, had been arrested attempting to transfer illegally a central Sofia property worth millions of leva.
 
After the arrests, investigators searching the offices and homes of the group found large numbers of fake documents and fake identity documents.
 
Speaking to BNT on August 31, Sofia deputy city prosecutor said that there was no evidence that there had been a "political umbrella" sheltering the alleged perpetrators.