[size=75:1zvhg4en]novinite 5 January 2010

I've posted this because its all over the news and thought it may be of interest to some of you


Murdered Bulgarian Journalist Bobi Tsankov

Boris Nikolov Tsankov, aka Bobi Tsankov, was murdered in broad daylight in downtown Sofia on January 5, 2010.

He was born in Sofia in 1979, and graduated from the Sofia Music High School “Lyubomir Pipkov”. He was the host of radio and TV shows including SMS Text Message betting games on a number of Bulgarian media – Radio 7 Days, Radio Hit 7, Radio Signal Plus, Radio Sport, Radio Viva, Radio Bravo – Varna, Radio Praktika, Radio Extreme – Pernik, TV Channel 2001, Balkan Bulgarian Television, SKAT TV, BGTV, and 7 Days TV.

He first became famous as a controversial figure when he was first arrested on June 24, 2003.

The signal against him was submitted by businesswoman Vanya Chervenkova. Tsankov was allegedly linked to the attempted murder on 35-year-old Vanya Chervenkova that filed a claim against him. Chervenkova has brought a lawsuit against Tsankov, claiming that she had paid the radio anchor some BGN 50 000 for advertising on Radio Viva. However, Tsankov never broadcasted any ads of Chervenkova's mineral water brand.

In June 2003, the Deputy Sofia Prosecutor, Petar Chalamov, said that the arrested radio host was charged with large-scale fraud as over 1 000 people from around Bulgaria had filed suits against him. In August 2003, Tsankov was released on a BGN 25 000 bail.

According to media reports, Tsankov committed fraud in several ways. One was to announce people could win free advertising in his show but then asked them to pay the amount of the value-added tax where he kept the money without broadcasting any ads. Another way was to ask the potential advertisers for money for billboards in Sofia which also never came up. A third way was to ask those who were said to have won free advertising to pay half of the amount of the ad to distribute the money among the owners and sponsors of the radio. He is said to have taken sums ranging from BGN 3 000 to BGN 17 000.

In November 2003, a bomb went off in a building in the centre of Sofia at the Neofit Rilski and Tsar Asen Str. The bomb was placed in front of the apartment of the parents of the controversial radio anchor Bobi Tsankov. The family of Tsankov was home during the blast but no one was injured.

The blast spurred rumors that Tsankov was a close associate of Sofia drugs boss Anton Miltenov, aka The Beak, and that the explosion was actually directed against him.

Tsankov was arrested again on June 3, 2004, for interrogation over his connections with Miltenov. A day earlier, he was injured in an evident attempt on his life when a hand-made bomb exploded in front of his home.

In 2004, Bobi Tsankov was involved in a scandal with the National Security Service (NSO) when it became clear that he had been guarded by an acting officer of the NSO. This led to the resignation of the former NSO Director, General Dimitar Vladimirov.

On February 27, 2006, Tsankov was arrested again over numerous frauds. His home at Tsar Asen Street where he lived with his parents was searched and he was interrogated by the Economic Police Unit.

On March 2, 2006, he was left behind bars by the Sofia District Court. Businesswoman Vanya Chervenkova was the main witness against him.

On June 27, 2006, he got a suspended three-year sentence with a five-year trial period over frauds during his time as host at the Viva Radio.

A second investigation against Tsankov is ongoing. He is investigated for misappropriation of property while he was the Executive Director of the 7 Days Radio in 2001.

In November 2009, Bulgarian Police arrested drugs kingpin ‘Jacket’ (Sako) in Sofia after he chased former radio host Bobi Tsankov through the streets of the capital in his car. ‘Jacket’ is also reported to have made previous threats against Tsankov’s life. Tsankov called the police while being chased.

Tsankov said that he had been chased in his car from the South Park in Sofia to the traffic lights in the City Center from where he managed to escape. He alleged ‘Sako’ was attempting to stop him writing about another famous mafia boss Metodi Metodiev a.k.a. Meto Ilienski being alive when he was thought by the authorities to be dead.

At the very end of 2009 New Bulgarian Media Group owned by media tycoon Irena Krasteva, who is the publisher of the Weekend paper, published Tsankov’s book in which he claims that Sofia drugs boss Metodi Metodiev, aka Meto Ilienski was still alive even though he disappeared in November 2003, and that he had become an agent of the US Drug Enforcement Agency DEA.

European Commission Condemns Bulgarian Journalist's Murder

"
Every murder is unacceptable. We hope the Bulgarian authorities will bring the perpetrators of this deed before a court as soon as possible,"
stated Mark Gray, spokesperson of the European Commission on Tuesday.

The statement referred to Tuesday's fatal shooting in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia of Bobi Tsankov, radio host, author and journalist."
Our first thoughts are with the families affected by this act,"
added the spokesman.

According to Gray, such fatal shootings represent a problem that Bulgaria needs to tackle urgently.

[size=75:3pez9guo]novinite 5 January 2010, 21:30

Update

Bulgaria Authorities Follow 3 Leads in Journalist Murder

Bulgaria’s authorities are working on three leads in their attempt to solve the murder case of controversial journalist, Bobi Tsankov.

The information was reported by Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov.

Tsankov was gunned down in broad daylight in a busy district in downtown Sofia Tuesday. He was known by his alleged ties with crime bosses and began lately writing stories about them. His book The Secrets of the Mobsters was published last November.

The Sofia special police task force arrested Tuesday evening Stefan Bonev, aka “Sako” and two other alleged top crime bosses - Krasimir Marinov and Nikolay Marinov, aka the Marguin Brothers. The authorities confirmed the information about the arrests, but declined to say they were connected to Tsankov’s murder.

In November 2009, Sako chased Bobi Tsankov by car in Sofia issuing death threats against him.

Kokinov says eyewitnesses have seen two or three assailants and their number remains unconfirmed. 15 bullet shells from a 9-mm ***** were found on the crime scene. Tsankov was shot point-blank in the head.

The Prosecutor declined to comment on what Tsankov and the two men, who were accompanying him, and who sustained non-life-threatening injuries, were doing in the building on the “Stamboliiski” boulevard in downtown Sofia, but confirmed there is a lawyer’s office inside and the three were, most likely, on a private visit.

Various Bulgarian media reported earlier that the office is the one of prominent attorney, Lachezar Takov, known as the lawyer of alleged top criminal, Zlatomir Ivanov aka Baretata (The Barret), who is linked to organized crime, two murders for hire and three attempted murders. It was also reported that Takov had insisted that Tsankov takes the witness stand in Baretata’s trial to which he agreed. During the trial, the journalist told the magistrates Baretata was an honest businessman. The SUV, parked at the crime scene, also belongs to Baretata, according to reports.

The two men, accompanying the victim, worked in a security firm, once again tied to Baretata as reported by Martin Radoslavov, Editor-in-Chief of the popular weekly tabloid “Weekend”, where Bobi Tsankov published most of his investigations.

The authorities declined confirming the above alleged connections along with the identities of the two men or even the fact that they have been Tsankov’s bodyguards, but said one of them, with the nickname Kutsia (The Lame), had a 30-year-old criminal record.

The body of the victim remained in the entrance of the roofed market where he was killed for more than 5 hours over the needs of the investigation and was removed at 5:30 pm.

In connection with the case, an emergency meeting was called in the office of Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev, attended by the Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Kokinov, the Director of Sofia’s Police Directorate, and other high-ranking police officers. As of 8 pm it was reported the meeting was still going on.

[size=75:3lqs32ox]novinite 6 January 2010

Irish Times: Journalist Killing to Fuel EU Pressure on Bulgaria

A prominent Bulgarian crime writer who chronicled the affairs of the local mafia in a book published two months ago was shot dead in broad daylight on a crowded street in central Sofia yesterday.

The killing of Boris “Bobi” Tsankov (30), well known as a radio presenter, follows a similar fatal attack on another crime writer less than two years ago.

Police said two men who were with Tsankov were shot and critically wounded in the attack, but their injuries are said not to be life-threatening. They were shot by two assailants who fled immediately after the attack.

According to local media reports, Tsankov was routinely accompanied by bodyguards. The same reports said Tsankov himself was the subject of fraud investigations by Bulgarian police between 2003 and 2006.

The latest attack may fuel EU pressure on Bulgaria’s new centre-right government to fulfil commitments to clamp down on the criminal underworld and on corruption in its public service.

The administration of Bulgarian prime minister Boiko Borisov has taken a harder line since coming to power last July, scoring a rare coup against organised crime last month with the arrest of more than two dozen suspected kidnappers.

In 2008 the European Commission blocked €220 million in aid to Bulgaria over concerns about crime and corruption in the country, which joined the EU a year previously.

The aid was released to Bulgaria last year.

Tsankov, whose book, The Secrets of the Mobsters, appeared in November, told police of death threats from a drug boss prior its publication and afterwards. He was injured in a bomb attack on his home in 2006.

Georgi Stoev, another writer of books on the emergence of Bulgaria’s underworld in the 1990s, was gunned down in front of a hotel in central Sofia in April 2008.

There have been more than 150 gangland assassinations in Bulgaria since 2001.

[size=75:sg0khzgr]novinite 6 January 2010

Top Bulgarian Gangster Charged over Murder of Journalist Bobi Tsankov

Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office has charged alleged mafia boss Krasimir Marinov, aka “The Big Margiun” with ordering the murder of controversial journalist Bobi Tsankov.

Tsankov was shot dead in downtown Sofia in broad daylight on Tuesday. Krasimir Marinov was busted Tuesday evening in a special operation of the police who searched premises owned by him and his brother, Nikolay Marinov, aka “The Little Marguin”.

Wednesday night the Prosecutor’s Office formally charged The Big Marguin that in the period November 2009-January 5, 2010, he, together with his brother, planned the murder of Bobi Tsankov by abetting unknown perpetrators into carrying out the crime.

According to the prosecutors, the crime has been committed with premeditation, thus creating danger for the lives of many people.

Krasimir Marinov has been detained for 72 hours with a prosecutor’s order. The police are still searching for his brother who is going to face the same charges.

This is terrible but at least they are trying to sort this type of thing out which I have to say is a plus but its too late for him and his family

sarah

Very sad indeed lets hope your right Sarah and things do change

It has been reported today that Bobby Tsankov had twelve convictions for fraud against him, one of which was still outstanding at the time of his death

I read that too earlier but still dosn't make it right, as the saying goes "
2 wrongs don't make a right"

nu2bg wrote:

I read that too earlier but still dosn't make it right, as the saying goes "
2 wrongs don't make a right"

I didn't post to suggest whether it was right or wrong, but purely for information

I know willowsend I too was just saying the above I didn't think you were doing anything other than posting information

Jane

Very sad all this I don't think we will ever know the complete truth it will just become another number [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]