Bulgarian Prosecution Refuses to Investigate PM Borisov's 'Dark Past' over WikiLeaks

Politics » DOMESTIC | August 9, 2012, Thursday // 19:49

Bulgaria's Prosecutor's Office has refused to investigate Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov over the reports that his past is connected with criminal activity based on secret US diplomatic cables published on WikiLeaks.

A brief note by Prosecutor Krasimir Kozhuharov from the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Sofia has confirmed an initial refusal by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office to start a pre-court investigation of the data from the US diplomatic cables implicating Boyko Borisov in criminal activities, reported investigative journalism site Bivol.bg.

The request for an investigation of Borisov's alleged "dark past" had been tabled by Petar Penchev and Atanas Tchoubanov from the Free Speech Association "Anna Politkovskaya".

They were not based entirely on the US diplomatic cables leaked on WikiLeaks but also on the testimonies of Vasil Kostov, aka Ketsa, before the court in Bulgaria's Shumen on the so called "Killers" trial, and the statements of Serbian mafia bosses Sreten Josic and Tomislav Marjanovic that Borisov provided cover for Josic while the latter was active in Bulgaria, Bivol.bg points out.

Penchev and Tchoubanov had appealed before the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor's Office a decision of prosecutor Lyubka Krasteva from the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office that indicated that the prosecutors did not even read the protocol from the court trial with the testimonies of Vasil Kostov, aka Ketsa, a former security guard of Milcho Bonev, aka Bay Mile, one of the top mafia figures in Bulgaria, who was murdered in public in 2004, while current Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, Bivol.bg says, adding that the protocol is a public document that can be read by anyone.

The site adds that Prosecutor Krasteva was apparently using Google Translate in order to understand the contents of the US diplomatic cables published on WikiLeaks, which state:

"Accusations in years past have linked Borisov to oil-siphoning scandals, illegal deals involving LUKoil and major traffic in methamphetamines. Information from SIMO tends to substantiate these allegations."

According to Bivol, the usage of Google Translate by the Sofia Prosecutor has resulted in Bulgarian phrases corresponding to "butter siphoning" and "basic traffic of methamphetamines"

Regardless of that, appellate prosecutor Kozhuharov has ruled that the "considerations presented in the motives (of the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office) should be fully supported in the current decree without the need to analyze them again in detail. These are too detailed, specific, clear, and unequivocal."

The considerations of the Bulgarian prosecution confirmed by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office for not investigating Borisov's past also include the fact that potentials crimes committed by the current Bulgarian Prime Minister have already become void by prescription.

Prosecutor Kozhuharov is also quoted as commenting on the report on Borisov's alleged dark past by the journalists from Bivol.bg to European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek as follows:

"The Republic of Bulgaria is a sovereign and independent state. It is a sovereign right and obligation of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation, the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor's Office, and the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office to start a pre-court procedure based on the respective texts of the Penal Code in the event of a crime of general nature committed by a member of the government, including the Prime Minister."

"This moralizing explanation does not refer to the essence of the report, and is unnecessary, but prosecutor Kozhuharov apparently wants to "place those reporting it where they belong" as they dared to keep the EU institutions up to date," Bivol.bg says.

The investigative site adds, however, that "the sovereign Bulgarian prosecution" has violated the rights of those who made the report by refusing them the right to appeal the decision not to investigate Borisov before the higher institution, in this case the Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor and Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation.

Bivol.bg adds that Petar Penchev and Atanas Tchoubanov will nonetheless appeal the decision of the Sofia Appellate Prosecutor's Office before the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation, and that they will refer it to the anti-mafia committee of the European Parliament CRIM "as a proof that the Bulgarian law enforcement institutions have no intention to shed any light on the dark past of the Prime Minister."

The Bulgarian journalists have already ask CRIM to organize a public hearing of, among others, Wikleaks's Julian Assange, Serbian mafia boss Sreten Jocic (currently under trial), a number of journalists and intelligence officers, as well as Boyko Borisov himself.

You can read the full English text of the letter sent to the EP Special Committee on Organized Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering HERE.

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Tags: John Beyerle, US, EP, European parliament, Boyko Borisov, money laundering, illegal, amphetamines, CIA, EU, European Union, Sreten Jocic, CRIM, organized crime, Wikileaks, Serbian, journalists, Julian Assange, Prime Minister

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