US Blacklists 3 Bulgarians, 64 Companies Over Corruption

WASHINGTON/SOFIA - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three Bulgarians and 64 companies linked to them over alleged corruption, including an oligarch accused of planning to create a conduit for Russian political leaders to influence the Bulgarian government.

The Treasury Department in a statement called the move its single biggest action targeting graft to date. Bulgaria ranks as the European Union's most corrupt member state, according to the Transparency International advocacy group. The Balkan country has repeatedly been criticized by the European Commission for failing to root out corruption and place a single high-ranking senior official behind bars for graft. Bulgarian interim Prime Minister Stefan Yanev said he was informed by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland by telephone about the move, part of efforts to effectively combat corruption in Bulgaria.