Former head of the Bulgarian Agriculture Fund, Kalina Ilieva, has passed all the required procedures and the her diploma for master's degree has been recognized, Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov, said.

Ilieva was involved in a scandal last week when it turned out that her diploma from the Berlin Technical Institute is forged.

"The Education Ministry recognized education. It does not legalize diplomas," Ignatov said Friday.

Ilieva passed the procedure for her diploma recognition in September 2008. The chair of the committee and Deputy Education Minister, Vanya Dobreva, has stated that she had no doubts for the legitimacy of the diploma because it was German and it featured the specific signs and signatures.

"It is normal, in such cases, that Bulgarians are not suspicious," Ignatov said, adding that authorities from the Education Ministry do not perform a forgery check unless they are specifically alarmed.

Ilieva was involved in several scandals in the past few months. It was first announced she was leaving office due to an "illness," which then turned out to actually be a "pregnancy," and only recently it became apparent that Ilieva's diploma was forged.

To boot, her father turned out to be the head of the Sofia Fire Department, Ivan Iliev. He will resign as a result of the events.

The latest revelation about Ilieva state that Bulgaria's Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naydenov's phone conversations have been reportedly tapped for more than 6 months as a result of a signal from the discredited former head of the Agriculture Fund.

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