SOFIA: Bulgaria’s traffic control agency has suspended two employees for demanding bribes from truck drivers delivering equipment for a British singer Robbie Williams concert.
Williams performed in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Sunday night as part of his Britpop tour.
Five trucks were stopped and questioned over their speedometers at the Black Cat checkpoint on September 25 in the run-up to the concert.
Two drivers gave 200 leva and one paid 300 euros while the others refused the bribe demands.
The head of the Sofia Directorate of Internal Affairs Lyubomir Nikolov said the officials even used Google Translate to ask for the bribes.
Approximately 43,000 euros and more than 5,000 leva were found during searches of the officials’ cars, offices and homes.
Some of the money discovered during the searches was stuffed in cigarette boxes.
Sofia’s prosecutor’s office has now charged the two men with corruption offences.
The traffic control agency suspended the employees and launched an internal investigation into the incident.
The British singer’s concert proceeded as scheduled despite the bribery incident involving his equipment transporters. – Reuters
