Bulgaria Interior Minister Not Worried about Ex Agent Accusations

Politics » DOMESTIC | October 15, 2010, Friday // 13:58
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Interior Minister Not Worried about Ex Agent Accusations Tsvtan Tsvetanov, Bulgaria's Interior Minister, has claimed he had nothing to worry about when commenting on the accusations of former secret agent, Alexei Petrov. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, said he was not worried about the statements of former secret agent Alexei Petrov, who accused him of participating in an illegal deal for EUR 1 M.

The ex employee of the State Agency for National Security (DANS), who is held under house arrest, has claimed that he helped Bulgaria's ruling party GERB find financing from private companies.

Petrov has explained that Tsvetanov has signed a deal with a Belgian fund, which offered to build a security system in the Sofia subway in exchange of EUR 1 M guarantee from the Sofia municipality.

Even though the municipality was not allowed to guarantee the money by itself and was supposed to form a public-private partnership, the former agent claimed he managed to collect the money and the deal was signed.

However, when Boyko Borisov, who was Sofia's mayor at the time, arrived in Brussels, he found out that the guarantee money was gone, in Petrov's words.

The former agent has claimed that the "Octopus" police operation aimed at finding the documentation on the missing money and neutralizing him as a witness on the case.

He also pointed out that Tsvetanov had a strong personal motive against him and took the operation as a personal, rather than public, goal.

On his part, the interior minister has stated that he had nothing to worry about and that his relations with the judiciary were rather a "constructive dialogue than a lack of communication."

Tsvetanov also expressed his opinion that by offering Petrov participation in his party "Order, Law and Justice," Yane Yanev was using the opportunity to become a political advocate of a man from the underworld, like the former agent.

His statement was a result of Yanev's accusation of the interior minister that he was "the head of the organized crime" in Bulgaria.   

"For the last 20 years, I do not know of a case of a party leader going to a person held under home arrest and offering him a party post," Tsvetanov said.

The interior minister has reiterated his discontent with the judiciary.

"Thanks to such thoughtless decisions, we have not made any progress for 20 years now," Tsvetanov said.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Domestic » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Alexei Petrov, Yane Yanev, State Agency for National Security, DANS, Boyko Borisov, GERB

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria