A Sofia appeals court has ordered the state to seize €1,562,865 from a Turkish citizen. Documents from Ukraine on where the money came from are unreliable, the Commission for Illegal Assets Forfeiture (KONPI) said.

The Sofia Court of Appeal fully upheld the commission's claim in a ruling on 22 October. The Supreme Court of Cassation can review it if an appeal is filed within one month of the ruling being served. The money will be seized once the ruling comes into force.

The man said he got the money from a Ukrainian company under a loan agreement. KONPI gathered evidence through international cooperation and information exchange, and it raised doubts about whether his documents were authentic. The certifications were made by a person who is not in Ukraine's register of notaries.

Ukrainian authorities checked the company and found major discrepancies. The firm never filed financial reports or declared income, and no bank accounts in its name were found for its entire existence.

The appeals court said the documents do not reflect a real deal and do not prove the money came from a legal source. The judges said it made no sense in real life for a firm with no assets or capital to hand a very large sum in cash to a private person.

The court also took into account the man's conviction under Article 251 of the Criminal Code for undeclared cash. Together with the other evidence, it supports the conclusion that the money came from an illegal source, the judges said.

KONPI says the defendant is registered for forgery in Romania and has criminal records for migrant smuggling in Turkey.

The commission says the result came from its targeted work gathering evidence, which disproved the man's claim that the money was legal.