Businessman Martin Dipchev, accused of writing up his expenses on a project financed under EU's pre-accession aid Sapard programme by more than 600 000 leva, will pay a paltry fine of 2500 leva, Plovdiv District Court ruled on January 12, as reported by website mediapool.bg.

The administrative punishment was imposed for the use of false paperwork in submitting the application to the Sapard payments agency, the court ruled.

Dipchev was accused by the prosecution that his firm, Dry Union Company OOD, embellished the costs of the project to set up a fruit-drying facility in the town of Klisoura in 2004 by 612 000 leva. The prosecution claimed that the expenses were grossly over-stated as Dipchev systematically filed false documentation.

The judge on the case ruled, however, that there was no proof that the money was embezzled and Dipchev was acquitted of that charge.

Prosecutors would appeal against the ruling of the court, mediapool.bg reported, whereas Dipchev planned to appeal against the fine.

Bulgaria has already lost more than 200 million euro in funds allocated under the Phare pre-accession aid programme in November 2008 and payment of close to another billlion euro has been frozen during the same year over suspicions of systemic weaknesses, including lack of transparency and administrative capacity, which European institutions said encouraged embezzlement and corruption.

The European Commission has repeatedly asked Bulgaria for effective sentences that would prove the ability of its judiciary and public administration to effectively manage European funds, but the number of such sentences remains extremely low.