A 300 leva bribe might cost a Plovdiv tax official her job. Veselka Mincheva, who started work in the Plovdiv office of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) on January 1 2006, was allegedly caught red-handed with the marked money in her purse and arrested on November 27. The 47-year-old Mincheva was charged with extortion and abuse of office.

The word in Plovdiv suggests that Mincheva had asked a local Plovdiv businessman for the money after performing an inspection of his company for social security purposes. The Finance Ministry notified the police of Mincheva’s actions. After the arrest, the NRA said that a procedure for the dismissal of Mincheva has been started.

Mincheva’s arrest was the third such arrest of a tax inspector in the Plovdiv region over the past three weeks. On November 20, the police arrested two tax inspectors from the NRA’s office in Pazardjik, near Plovdiv.  The 45-year-old Mariana Pondeva and her colleague the 38-year-old Krustyo Krustev remained in the arrest after a decision of the Plovdiv Appellate Court (PAC).

The story of Pondeva raises some questions of the Bulgarian judiciary. On November 16, Pondeva and Krustev were detained by the police after the two had asked a businessman from Velingrad for 60 000 leva. According to the police, on July 1 this year, Pondeva, together with Krustev and some of  their colleagues from the NRA’s Velingrad office, threatened a local businessman with violence and property damage. The tax inspectors allegedly forced the businessman to give 60 000 leva to a friend of Pondeva’s.

Pondeva and Krustev’s plan was for each of them to play either the role of the good or the bad cop. Later they wanted the money to be handed not directly to them but to a third party. After the businessman alerted the police, the two tax inspectors were arrested. However, they were later released on bail after paying 1000 leva each.

The regional office of the Prosecutor-General’s Office protested the court’s decision to the PAC.

Meanwhile, the police doubled efforts and four days later, Pondeva was again arrested on similar charges. This time she had taken 5000 leva from a timber merchant from the town of Surnitsa. Plovdiv Regional Prosecutor Yordan Daskalov told a news conference that there were other allegations against Pondeva and Krustev. Pondeva was detained for 72 hours, with the PAC later deciding to keep her in custody.

In its ruling, the PAC judges said they did not share the Pazardjik Regional Court’s opinion that Pondeva and Krustev would not commit any further crime or hide from authorities.

With the current accusations, Pondeva and Krustev face five to 15 years of imprisonment and fines of up to 10 000 leva. The PAC’s decision was final and is not subject to appeal. Earlier, the NRA said that Pondeva and Krustev would be dismissed from office.