MOSCOW, October 6 (RAPSI) – A probe has been launched into a complaint by Russian national Andrey Varganov, who alleged fraud on part of his Bulgarian business partner, RAPSI was told by Vera Marinova, a prosecutor from the prosecutor's office of the city of Silistra.

Varganov asked the investigation into the case to be transferred to the town of Kavarna where he resides at the moment, since Ivan Parushev, the head of the investigative department of Silistra, is a close relative to the participant of the criminal case Chudomir Dobrev Ivanov.

The petition was officially registered on Thursday and attached to the case.

According to Marinova, Parushev should file a request to withdraw from the case.

Constantine Karanikolov, Varganov’s lawyer, also says Parushev should withdraw. If he fails to do so and proceeds with the improper investigation, he will face criminal charges himself and up to six years of imprisonment, according to Karanikolov.

Varganov organized coal suppliers business in Bulgaria together with local partners. The businessman claims that the funds transferred to the account of the company were illegally appropriated. Moreover, Varganov alleges that the company could be used by Chudomir Dobrev Ivanov for money laundering, as hundreds of thousands of euros were transferred using the account in 2015-2016.

Varganov filed the claim to the prosecutor's office and turned to the Russian embassy in Bulgaria for support after he and his family began receiving threats.