Vassil Bojkov

Bulgaria's Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation requested of the US Department of State additional information on the case of imposing sanctions on three Bulgarian nationals under the Magnitsky Act.

Vassil Bojkov, oligarch in exile and head of the Bulgarian Summer party. Source: Facebook/VassilKrumovBojkov.

The Finance Ministry said the companies and individuals might be affected in the near future by the US's Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which freezes the assets of people linked to corruption and human rights abuses and bars them from entering the US.

Acting on its own initiative, Bulgaria's prosecution service has instituted six case files after the US Treasury Department and State Department announced on Wednesday that they are sanctioning a total of six Bulgarians over their involvement in significant corruption. 

Bulgarian media mogul and MP from the centrist Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Delyan Peevski, during a meeting at parliament in Sofia, May 2013. Photo: EPA/STR.

The first man named is oligarch-in-exile, art dealer and former football and gambling boss Vassil Bojkov, alias The Skull, who fled the country to Dubai in January 2020 amid numerous charges.

The election will pose a major test of the ruling coalition after much criticism and last year's mass protests against corruption, shrinking media freedoms and questionable populist moves, such as the decision to block North Macedonia's progress towards EU membership.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borissov arrives at the EU summit in Brussels, October 2, 2020. EPA-EFE/Olivier Matthys / POOL

Borissov criticized Radev's decision, saying it was hard to know how the pandemic would unfold by late March and implying that elections should be delayed.

Vassil Bojkov, https://bgsummer2020.com

"We are the power," announced Bojkov, a former gambling mogul and football boss, on Twitter. "The time for justice is coming and justice will be for all."

Evading charges at home in the Gulf, Vassil Bojkov, alias The Skull, is becoming an unlikely opposition voice to Boyko Borissov - using his new-found social media skills to mull his plans to shake up politics and form his own party.