A new US department of justice (USDOJ) report cites Bulgaria as an example of how international organised criminals corrupt and seek to corrupt public officials in the US and abroad.

In a document entitled “Overview of the law enforcement strategy to combat international organised crime. April 2008”, published on the USDOJ's website, Bulgaria’s name features as the example of “Threat 7: International organised criminals corrupt and seek to corrupt public officials in the United States and abroad”.

The document says “international organised criminals have to corrupt public officials to
operate and protect their illegal operations, and to increase their sphere of influence".

It goes on to say that "they have been successful in systematically corrupting public officials around the world, including countries of vital strategic importance to the United States, and they are increasingly seeking to influence US officials by legal and illegal means".

The report continues: "In March 2008, the Bulgarian chief directorate for combating organised crime, a branch of the Ministry of Interior, reportedly revealed that several officials from the ministry had had contacts with controversial businessmen, linked to international organised crime, who were currently under investigation. As part of the scandal, Ivan Ivanov, deputy head of CDCOC, was charged with leaking confidential information. Ilia Iliev, chief secretary of the Ministry of Interior, was arrested for his responsibility in granting documents to travel within the European Union to a Serbian national with ties to organised crime”.

Ukraine and Nicaragua are also cited in the same report.

For the full version of the report visit http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/speeches/2008/ioc-strategy-public-overview.pdf