Today, the first court hearing of an EPPO case in Bulgaria took place in Sofia (Bulgaria) in the Specialised Criminal Court. The defendant, a General Expert working for the Bulgarian State Fund Agriculture (SFA), has been in custody since the beginning of September 2021 and has been brought to court for his first hearing in a case of bribery.

The Italian Customs Police and the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) seized a shipment of nearly 30 tonnes of tobacco products of foreign manufacture at the Port of Trieste in November 2021. The shipment had come from Malawi and the tobacco was intended to be sold on the EU market European territory.

The College has appointed 1 new European Delegated Prosecutor in Bulgaria. Another candidate was rejected by the College for not meeting all the requirements set out in the EPPO Regulation.