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Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Bulgarian Investigation

The Bulgarian criminal investigation into the BBC Panorama programme, that showed corruption connected to London's Olympic games bid, has been dropped due to lack of evidence.

The programme, "Buying The Games" broadcast in August 2004, showed Bulgarian IOC member Ivan Slavkov telling undercover reporters how to make bribes to win the 2012 Olympics for London.

Slavkov was relieved of his Olympic duties by the IOC after the documentary was broadcast, he denied that he had done anything wrong.

Bulgaria then decided to conduct an investigation into the BBC, which was initiated after Slavkov told former chief prosecutor, Nikola Filchev, that he blamed the BBC journalists for distorting the film.

The new Sofia prosecutor, Boyko Naydenov, said Slavkov's claims were irrelevant.

Quote:

"The case was originally initiated on allegations that the authors of the BBC documentary violated Article 307 of the Bulgarian Penal Code - incitement to accept a bribe - and Article 339A - the use of a surveillance device without permission.

It has now been terminated at a pre-trial stage before any charges could be pressed in court due to a lack of evidence
."

In other words, the charges against the BBC were nonsense.

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