Well someones doing ok..bless 'em

Bulgaria to Check All 105 Bentleys in Country as Luxury Motor Becomes Car of Choice for Mafia Bosses

Views on BG

By Daily Mail Reporter

All 105 Bentley owners in Bulgaria for possible tax evasion and other fraud as part of efforts to curb rampant corruption, the country's revenue agency said today.

The European Union newcomer is under growing pressure from Brussels to tame chronic corruption and powerful organised crime. Failing to show result could lead to more sanctions after last year Brussels cut Bulgaria's access to millions in EU aid.

The revenue agency statement said it will investigate the sources of income of the Bentley owners and appoint audits if checks proved there were discrepancies between declared incomes and actual assets held.

The statement made no reference to whether the owners of other up market cars would be investigated.

'It turned out Bulgaria is one of the countries in Europe where the number of registered Bentleys is...very high,' said Rossen Bachvarov, the agency spokesman. 'There is nothing wrong if one has a Bentley as long as they have paid their taxes.'

Bachvarov declined to say whether senior government officials were among the owners of the luxury brand, owned by Volkswagen AG. Bentleys retail for at least £165,000 in Bulgaria, industry officials said.

Local media have reported Social Minister Emilia Maslarova owned a Bentley and some published pictures of her with such a car car, but she has dismissed the reports.

Maslarova came under fire earlier this year for spending more than 8,600 euros for a ticket for a ministerial trip to Korea -- the equivalent of an average pensioner's pay for eight years.

Earlier this year, the revenue agency also launched checks of owners of luxury yachts and expensive property.
Bulgaria's average monthly salary of about 300 euros remains the lowest in the EU and all opinion polls show the ruling Socialists will get punished at a July 5 parliamentary election.

Polls show over two-third of the 7.6 million population want the Socialist-led government to go over its failure to act against the economic crisis and crack down on crime and graft.

Bulgaria has not convicted a single senior official of graft and has sent to jail only one crime boss since the end of communism in 1989.

Despite the recession and falling budget revenues, the annual Sofia Motorshow reported over 600 new car sales last week and the economy ministry recently ordered 15 new cars.