A case with international implications concerns Bozhidar Chorbadzhiyski, the defender of the Hermannstadt team. The judicial authorities in Poland suspect him of having benefited from a mechanism used to reduce taxes owed to the state by means of false invoices.
The case also reached Romania, being registered at the Sibiu Court on May 25, 2026. The court decided to send the case to DIICOT, the competent institution to analyze the request from the Polish investigators.
According to prosecutors in Gdansk, the Bulgarian footballer is among the 68 players investigated in an alleged tax evasion scheme. The investigation shows that the athletes would have obtained invoices for services that, in reality, would not have been provided. The documents were issued for activities such as promotion, social media management, transfer consultancy or technical-tactical analysis. However, the investigators claim that these services existed only on paper and had the role of justifying certain expenses and reducing tax obligations.
According to the information provided by the Polish authorities, access to these invoices would have been facilitated by Krzysztof Sobieraj, a former footballer and current coach. He allegedly connected with companies controlled by Robert Frankowski, an underling associated with the criminal group known as the Pruszkow Mafia.
The Sibiu court sent the case to DIICOT
According to Polish investigators, the scheme worked by using invoices for services that did not actually exist. The athletes only paid the value of the VAT entered on the documents, and later they would have received the rest of the amount back. The invoices were then used to enter fictitious expenses on tax returns and reduce taxes owed to the state.
Prosecutors estimate that the damage caused by this mechanism exceeds 3.5 million euros, according to information published by Golazo.
In Romania, the Sibiu Court analyzed the request from the Polish authorities and decided that the file should be managed by DIICOT, considering the type of facts investigated. As a result, the case was sent to the institution’s Sibiu Territorial Office.
