EU prosecutors indict former Varna mayor Ivan Portnikh and ex-regional governor over EU funds sought for an allegedly non-existent fishing port

On 1 December 2025 the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Sofia filed an indictment against Ivan Portnikh, mayor of Varna from 2013 to 2023, former regional governor Stoyan Pasev and two officials of the Executive Agency Maritime Administration over a project to reconstruct a fishing port on the outskirts of Varna. Prosecutors allege that no such port existed when the funding application was submitted, that documents were falsified and pontoons assembled as floating piers so the site could be registered as a port, and that EUR 3.4 million in EU and national funds was sought, with estimated damage of about EUR 2.8 million to the EU budget and EUR 675,475 to the national budget.