Iliа Iliev, the former head of Sofia's trafic police (KAT) received two and a half years suspended sentence from the Military Court of Appeal on May 21 2008, mediapool.bg said.

Iliev was found guilty of malfeasance in office. He had helped 11 motorists escape prosecution in January 17-May 19 2006, the court ruled. All motorists had been caught driving while drunk, but received minor administrative sanctions from Iliev, which spared them from further prosecution.

Iliev was dismissed from office in August 2006. Tomi Tomov, the head of the administrative service department of the traffic police in Sofia was also dismissed.

The arrest happened during an investigation against an organised crime group led by Iliev's son, Nestor Nestorov. The group dealt with tax evasion and fake documentation. Nestorov and two accomplices allegedly helped people register their motor vehicles by avoiding KAT's procedures.