Property worth a little more than 143 million leva owned by energy tycoon Hristo Kovachki will be impounded after the court ruled in favour of a request from the Asset Forfeiture Commission.

The exact sum is 143 411 811 leva. The commission started investigating Kovachki's properties after the Prosecutor-General's Office launched an investigation against Kovachki for tax fraud.

If found guilty and depending on the court sentence Kovachki could lose his properties.

The commission found discrepancies between Kovacki's officially declared income and his expenses for the period between 1994 and 2008.

During this period Kovachki declared an income of 2.2 million leva while his acquired property, including real estate, motor vehicles and company shares and other assets, totalled 143 million leva.

Kovachki was officially charged with tax fraud on August 17 2009. According to the charges, four of Kovachki's companies drained 16 million leva in tax fraud schemes between 2005 and 2008.

At the time Kovachki said that the accusations were meaningless and that they only served to undermine the image of him and his companies. He maintained that a proper trial would help him prove his innocence.

Kovachki is one of the heavyweights of Bulgaria's business with participation in more than 40 companies ranging from coal mines, thermal power plants, heating utilities, a bank and an insurance company and business in Serbia. He owns Atomenergoremont company, which provides maintenance to Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant at Kozloduy on the Danube River.

In October 2008 Kovachki found himself listed among the top 100 richest people in South Eastern Europe. Poland's Wprost magazine placed him in 98th position with a business empire estimated at $700 million.

In 2009 the Lider party, which he helped found and openly supported, was on the brink of making it to Parliament at the July 5 elections. During the election campaign his opponents claimed that people working for him were forced to vote for Lider which he denied.