Is the confiscation of property under the law for the seizure of the property of a convicted

 

 

Demonstration of unexplained material prosperity by persons who, according to the dominant opinion, commit serious offenses, including criminality, against the economic order established in the Constitution and the laws of the state creates the notion that the free market is not subject to established rules that democratic institutions may limit the possibility of getting rich from illegal sources for a foreign account, as well as at the expense of society as a whole.

 

A legislative response to this idea was the Act on the Forfeiture of Criminal Assets (PPLPPD) in favor of the State. Establishment bodies were set up to establish the property concerned - the Commission for the Forfeiture of Unlawfully Acquired Property and the Territorial Directorates, which, on the basis of an examination, decide whether a reasonable assumption can be made in the specific case that the proceeds are related to the criminal activity of the persons filed in court with a motivated request (civil action) for the forfeiture of property of criminal origin for the benefit of the state. The entry into force of a conviction, other than those referred to in Art. 3, para. 2 of the LPDIPPD (revoked) cases of legal impossibility for the development of the criminal proceedings, was a mandatory condition for the submission of the request in the court, respectively - a prerequisite for realization of the civil claim of the state - Art. 27, para. 2 of the PPLIPPD (revoked).

 

In the current Act on the Forfeiture of State Assets of Illegally Acquired Property, the development and outcome of the criminal proceedings ceased to be decisive for the revocation of property under the civil claim of the state. In addition to setting up the bodies for the identification of illegally acquired property, the PUPNP also regulates three main stages of the legal procedure: 1) conducting a preliminary inspection; 2) bringing to court a claim for securing a future claim and actions after the imposition of the precautionary measures; and 3) court proceedings for the forfeiture of the illegally acquired property in favor of the state.

 

The law does not provide for a case in which the Commission may directly bring an action for the seizure of illegally acquired property, without prior pre-trial examination, the administrative procedure before the Commission is a compulsory procedural precondition for bringing the action before the court. For its part, the Commission initiates an inspection subject to certain preconditions:

 

1) Attracting an accused for explicit crimes

 

2) Adoption of an act of the prosecutor, establishing a barrier to the development of criminal proceedings for such crimes due to amnesty, limitation of prosecution, transfer of criminal proceedings to another state, concealment, immunity, death of a perpetrator, etc. (Article 22 of the Law on the Protection of the Environment);

 

3) existence of an act of a foreign court recognized by the Bulgarian legislation for a crime of the above categories (Article 23 of the Law on the Protection of the Environment).

 

The conviction of one person for the ones referred to in Art. 22 of the Law on the Protection of the Environment, is not envisaged as a basis for initiating a check for the presence of illegally acquired property. And the reason for this is clear - the basis for the initiation of the investigation is the previous involvement of the person as the accused for the crime. In practice, however, it is not uncommon for pre-trial authorities to notify the Commission of the person's acquittal as the accused, as the proceedings are developing too quickly - the accused admits his guilt and an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office, which ends the criminal process in one court. Only then, when the person has already been convicted and the criminal proceedings have been completed, the Commission is notified and it is initiating proceedings for the confiscation of illegally acquired property. The question is: is this lawful?

 

THE LAW OF THE LAW

 

According to Art. 22, para. Article 1 of the Law on the Protection of the Environment The examination starts with an act of the director of the respective territorial directorate when a person is charged as an accused. By attracting the person as accused, he is charged with criminal charges. According to Art. 2 of the Law on the Protection of the Environment, the procedure under this Law shall be carried out regardless of the criminal proceedings against the inspected person and / or the persons related to him / her. From the last rule, we can at first glance reach the conclusion that the conviction of the person does not prevent the taking of a check, as before the conviction the person nevertheless had the quality of the accused. Such a conclusion is made in the doctrine in which it is assumed that the subsequent conviction or even the acquittal of the accused does not have any significance for the Commission's right to initiate a check on unlawfully acquired property.

 

This conclusion, however, is incorrect and it contradicts the letter of the law. The proceedings before the Commission are administrative proceedings. Any administrative proceedings begin with the presence of certain legal u