The district prosecution in Shumen has terminated the investigation into money laundering against Beizat Yahya, a businessman close to Boyko Borisov.
Yahya is a long-time party activist for the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and GERB, a former head of the Northeast State Enterprise, and an unofficial host of the Palamara hunting grounds.
The decision to stop the case was not officially announced by the prosecution, despite Yahya being a public figure with significant influence in the region. He served for many years as the chairman of the municipal council in Venets as an activist and local leader of DPS and simultaneously managed vast assets as the chairman of the board of directors at the Northeast State Enterprise (SIDP).
Complete Silence
There were no statements from the prosecution regarding the progress of the pre-trial proceedings against Yahya. We learned about the termination of the investigation from our sources, and the information was confirmed by the district prosecutor of Shumen, Orlin Kuzdov, whom we contacted for comment.
“Yes, the pre-trial proceedings for money laundering against Beizat Yahya have been terminated,” Kuzdov stated. He added that the investigation against Yahya was for (Articles 252, 253, and 301 of the Criminal Code) regarding illegal financial transactions, money laundering, and bribery of a public official. The penalties for these charges include imprisonment of up to 6 years and fines, while one of the articles also provides for the confiscation of property.
The investigation against Yahya began in Shumen in February 2022 and was extended several times. Five months later, the pre-trial proceedings were transferred to Sofia by order of the Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, and the case completely disappeared from media and public attention. Thus, the investigation continued in complete silence until it was terminated by the supervising prosecutor, Danail Shostak.
“The investigation was conducted by the National Investigation Service and came from Sofia with a recommendation for termination from the investigator who was handling it. The colleague (the supervising prosecutor) took this recommendation into account, considering that the case was thoroughly investigated, and terminated it,” said Orlin Kuzdov.
However, he categorically refused to disclose the motives for terminating the investigation against Yahya, emphasizing that he would not respond even under the Access to Public Information Law, as he believes this case does not fall into the category of matters of public importance.
“This case does not fall under the law on access to public information, and there is no way you can obtain this information (regarding the motives for termination),” stated the district prosecutor of Shumen. In response to my arguments that it concerns a public figure, a well-known businessman, politician, and head of a large state enterprise, Orlin Kuzdov replied that Beizat Yahya is not a politician because “politicians are in parliament” and is no longer the head of SIDP, meaning he is an average citizen who is not of interest to the public.
The district prosecutor did add that some materials from the investigation have been separated and that three more cases have been opened against Yahya. Kuzdov refused to comment on what the new investigations are about, but it became clear that they are not related to money laundering or bribery, meaning the most severe charges have been dropped. It was revealed that one of the cases is related to weapons and has been forwarded to the District Prosecutor’s Office.
How the Investigation Against Yahya Began
On February 16, 2022, police searched three properties belonging to Yahya in Venets, in the village of Osenovets, and in the area of Dabrava near the Palamara hunting grounds. Over 100 documents of real estate ownership, loan documents, bank statements, mobile devices, 14 long-barreled firearms, a Glock pistol, and numerous ammunition were found in Yahya’s home in Venets.
Documents of real estate ownership, hunting trophies, and about 3,800 bottles of alcohol of various capacities, which were factory sealed but lacked excise stamps and labels, were seized from the property in Osenovets. According to the person managing the property, the alcohol belonged to Yahya’s son, GERB MP Ilter Beyzatov. The discovered amounts of illegal alcohol were confiscated in connection with an opened pre-trial proceeding by the Customs Agency, as revealed by the investigators. According to our information, this pre-trial proceeding has also been terminated.
From the property in the Dabrava area, the police seized two discs labeled “Tayip Erdogan,” mobile devices, bank documents, ammunition, and a homemade shotgun. Documents related to the sale of state properties were also confiscated, with indications that they were purchased by Beizat Yahya through intermediaries.
Sub, Yahya’s office in Venets and the office of his accountant in Shumen were searched. From the office located in the administrative building of the DLS “Palamara” in Venets, over 50 copies of documents for acquiring real estate in the Shumen region were seized, along with five company seals, copies of Turkish personal documents, hunting licenses for foreign individuals, and certificates for selective hunting.
The initial supervising prosecutor on the case was Violeta Radeva, a prosecutor from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Varna, who successfully concluded several high-profile investigations. It was revealed that Radeva had done significant work on the investigation against Beizat Yahya, collecting over 30 volumes of documents related to the emblematic politician from Deliormana. It was noteworthy that the investigation against Yahya was initially handled by an extremely small group of 5-6 individuals to prevent information from leaking about the case.
Surprisingly, after Easter, Prosecutor Radeva was reassigned back to Varna, and a second supervising prosecutor was appointed for the investigation against Yahya, who requested that the materials be returned to Shumen. Later, it was revealed that this supervising prosecutor from Shumen is Danail Shostak.
At the end of January, U.S. Ambassador Hero Mustafa sent a clear message that Bulgaria remains gripped by corruption and oligarchs, with no progress on the rule of law and ineffective actions by authorities against those sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act, stating that it is high time for change.
In her statement weeks before her departure from Bulgaria at the end of her term, Hero Mustafa said: “The challenge, unfortunately, is that a small group has created a system that enriches an oligarchic class and captures state resources. I know this personally, as I work with our companies to try to counter this. And what happens to those who do not have this assistance – they sink into a sense of hopelessness. And it discourages those who want to fight for their country. It pains me to see this… Those state officials (who are fighting corruption – ed.) are denied promotions, they are transferred to distant towns, and they are fired. I am not telling you anything you don’t know. I am just speaking the truth as your friend, so that we can all focus on this. Let me give you an example. Just in the past few weeks, corruption investigations in Varna and Shumen were closed or transferred without any public disclosure of the legal basis. This is just an example from the last few weeks,” said the U.S. ambassador at the “Rule of Law and Business Environment in Bulgaria” forum, which included all major trade and industrial associations of foreign businesses in the country, as well as ambassadors of foreign states.
Those involved in the investigation against Yahya believe that Ambassador Mustafa was referring to the terminated investigation. According to our information, the pre-trial proceedings against Beizat Yahya were indeed terminated around that time (December-January), but as Hero Mustafa points out, no legal basis is published in such cases, nor are they publicly announced.
Who is Beizat Yahya?
Until 2021, Beizat Yahya served as the chairman of the Management Board of the Northeast State Enterprise for 10 years and informally hosted Boyko Borisov at his favorite Palamara hunting grounds. At this state enterprise, Yahya’s son, Ilter Beyzatov, was appointed deputy director. In May 2021, the caretaker government relieved Beizat Yahya of his position at SIDP.
Until 2019, Beizat Yahya was one of the most powerful figures in DPS and Dogan in the Northeast and served as the chairman of the municipal council in Venets for two terms. In 2019, he migrated to GERB while maintaining his influence in the region. In an investigation regarding the sale of properties in the Palamara hunting grounds during Yahya’s tenure, the newspaper “Segra” recalled the close ties between Valentin Zlatev and Beizat Yahya. Years ago, Zlatev was the godfather of Yahya’s son, and then-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov attended the wedding. Three years later, when the municipal council in Venets was chaired by Beizat Yahya, Zlatev was named an honorary citizen of the village.
The son of Yahya, Ilter Beyzatov, was included by Boyko Borisov in the national leadership of GERB and subsequently placed strategically in the second position on GERB’s electoral list in Shumen. Since 2021, Beyzatov has been the only GERB MP from Shumen, as the list leader Krasimir Velchev consistently relinquished his position.
In all three parliamentary elections of 2021, Ilter Beyzatov was the champion of preferential votes in the region. In April, he ranked in the Top 5 nationally for personal preferences, receiving nearly 7,000 votes. There were also striking instances of widespread support, such as in the village of Vălnari in the Nikolakozlevsko region. Out of 401 ballots cast for GERB, a staggering 400 were marked with a preference for Beyzatov. Only one voter failed to indicate him as their preferred candidate.
By July, Beyzatov’s preferential votes were halved, and in November, he gathered a personal vote of 2,226 votes. Although this was three times fewer than his record in April, these preferences once again made him the champion in the “discipline” in Shumen. A similar result was recorded in the last elections in October 2022.
According to our sources, during the investigation against him, Beizat Yahya was out of Bulgaria for several months and could not be interrogated regarding the case. Around the New Year, Yahya returned, according to insiders. There has also been a change in the prosecutor handling the case—he has advanced in his career and has been assigned to the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor’s Office, as reported by his colleagues.
