Stefan Antohov Sofianski

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 01.11.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Corruption and scandals

• Three cases over city deals. The Bulgarian Wikipedia says that in 2004 the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office began an investigation into four deals of the Sofia Municipality and brought three cases against him for official crimes: over the Central Sofia Halls, the business centre at 1 Gurko Street and the plot for Millennium Center. From 5 May to 29 July that year he was temporarily removed as mayor, and parliament lifted his immunity on 22 February 2006, after he himself urged his colleagues to vote for it. According to the same encyclopedia, an acquittal followed in February 2008 over Gurko Street 1 and NIKMI AD, the prosecutor having stated there was not enough evidence. Blitz also reports that he was acquitted in all three cases, in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. — Wikipedia (bg), Blitz
• Acquitted over the Central Halls deal. Mediapool reports that Sofia City Court acquitted him and the municipality's chief accountant Antoaneta Makedonska over the Central Halls deal. The prosecution had charged them with abusing their official duties by understating the value of the halls 400 times in a deal between a mixed municipal company and the Israeli firm Ashtrom, and had asked for 7 years in prison for both the day before. According to the court's reasons, the company's participation and the terms of the deal resulted from a decision of the Sofia Municipal Council, and no harmful consequences occurred for the municipality; the outlet adds that no in-kind contribution was made and that on paper the halls are municipal property. The prosecution said it would protest the verdict. Sofiyanski himself calls the trial against him political and says the court acquitted the halls rather than him. Later BGNES reported that the Supreme Court of Cassation had left the acquittal in force after the appellate court upheld it, the ruling having come out about a month earlier. The acquittal is final. — Mediapool, 14.06.2006, dnes.dir.bg (BGNES), 29.12.2007
• Acquitted in the Millennium Center case. Mediapool reports that Sofia City Court acquitted him in the Millennium Center case. According to the prosecution, in November 1998 he concluded without a tender or competition an annex to a 1993 contract by which the municipality grants OBB and Fond Razvitie a building right on a plot in the Ivan Vazov quarter, and thereby caused Sofia damage of 5 million dollars. The prosecutor asked for 4.5 years in prison and a five-year ban on holding any state post. Sofiyanski states that he in no way violated the legislation in force at the time, and accuses the former Prosecutor General: "Обвинявам Филчев за делата срещу мен като един неадекватен човек, изпълняващ поръчка на кръг от хора около него" (our translation: "I accuse Filchev over the cases against me as an inadequate person carrying out an order of a circle of people around him"). BGNES adds that the appellate court acquitted him as well, and that the Supreme Court of Cassation was yet to rule. — Mediapool, 24.09.2007, dnes.dir.bg (BGNES), 29.12.2007

Other

• Son-in-law from Vasil Bozhkov's family. According to a 24 chasa article published by 168 chasa, his daughter Iva Sofiyanska became engaged in April 2013 to Anton Bozhkov, son of Vasil Bozhkov, and the two married two months later. The outlet writes that the two families were thereby related. Close friends of the young couple describe the son-in-law as closer to his wife's family than to his father. — 168 chasa, 08.03.2020