Bulgaria's ex-farming minister charged with graft

(SOFIA) - Bulgaria's recently ousted farming minister Miroslav Naydenov has been indicted for bribery and abuse of power over the distribution of EU agricultural funds, Sofia city prosecutors said Tuesday.

Naydenov faces charges for allegedly pressuring and trying to pay off a high-ranking official at the state agriculture fund which disburses EU aid money to farmers, and for lobbying for a company to win a public tender at the same fund, the prosecution said in a statement.

If found guilty, Naydenov risks up to six years in jail.

The controversial minister was part of the right-wing government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov that came to power in 2009 on an anti-graft platform but was ousted on February 20 following mass protests against poverty and corruption.

Bulgaria's intransparent public tender procedures, widespread allegations of cronyism, and suspected corruption in the distribution of EU aid funds have long raised eyebrows at the European Commission in Brussels, which put Bulgaria, as well as neighbouring Romania, under a special monitoring mechanism when they joined the bloc in 2007.