April 2 (SeeNews) - The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) has launched an investigation into one unnamed Bulgarian company over possible embezzlement, misuse of EU funds and money laundering tied to the construction of the country's longest road tunnel, Zheleznitsa, on the Struma motorway, it said.
The construction of the Zheleznitsa tunnel, which opened for traffic in February, was awarded to a consortium of three companies by Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency, EPPO said in a statement on Monday. The tunnel was built by a tie-up between local companies GP Group, Global Construction and Via Plan.
The project was co-financed by the EU's Cohesion Fund under the Transport Infrastructure 2014-2020 operational programme. The consortium received some 185 million levs ($102.3 million/94.6 million euro), of which 85% was financed by EU funds.
Following a signal from Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security, the EPPO in Sofia opened an investigation, which found that one of the companies from the consortium is suspected of several criminal offences, including embezzlement, misuse of EU funds and money laundering.
The EU prosecutor alleges the company under investigation made numerous fictitious money transfers amounting to over 11 million levs to a chain of shell companies, resulting in substantial cash withdrawals by individuals with criminal records. These companies and individuals are also part of an ongoing EPPO probe related to railway infrastructure projects.
In collaboration with Bulgaria's General Directorate of the National Police and the State Agency for National Security, EPPO carried out on Monday searches in six companies and four private residences in two Bulgarian districts to gather evidence. The investigation is ongoing so as to determine the full scope and nature of the suspected criminal activities.
GP Group is not under investigation and is cooperating with the authorities to provide all required documents, the company said in a press release on Monday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)