The Prosecutor's Office dismissed Monday the trial against former Interior Ministry Chief Secretary, Ilia Iliev, over lack of evidence.

Iliev was investigated for disclosing classified information and in 2008 spent 72 hours behind bars.

After a number of expert testimonies and interrogations, it became clear the Prosecutor could not prove that Iliev had ever disseminated classified information in order to protect himself from other high-ranking cops.

Two Interior Ministry employees, considered key witnesses in the case, refused to testify with the motif they did not want to implicate themselves.

Iliev commented Monday that he was still expecting an explanation for his sensational arrest and the grave accusations, adding he would seek compensations for damages through the Court in Strasbourg.

Iliev, a former member of the Socialist party, is currently a majority candidate to run in the city of Pleven for a seat in Bulgaria's next Parliament from the ticket of the opposition "Order, Law and Justice" (RZS) party. He will be joined by the RZS leader, Yane Yanev at an emergency pres conference scheduled for Tuesday.

Iliev resigned from the Interior Ministry over the so-called "Kujovic" scandal and was arrested after the authorities detained another high-ranking Interior employee - Ivan Ivanov, also on charges of disclosing classified information and abuse of power.

The scandal that rock the Ministry, culminated with the resignation of then Interior Minister, Rumen Petkov.

The trial against Ivanov was also dismissed.

In 2007 Serbian citizen Budimir Kujovich, who in 2005 was imposed a 10-year ban to enter Bulgaria after being accused of running a laboratory for production of synthetic drugs near Sofia, was issued a Bulgarian passport. The passport was part of a secret police operation, in which four tons of heroin were supposed to be seized in Bulgaria on their way towards Western Europe.

Ilia Iliev, who allowed issuing the passport, submitted his resignation at the end of November 2007 after months of waiting in vain for the heroin to cross the border.

Iliev then explained that he was leaving because he was tricked into signing a document, which breached the regulations of the Interior Ministry.

A month later, Bulgarian customs officers at the Kapitan Andreevo border check point with Turkey seized 60 kilograms of heroin and police arrested Kujovic as the alleged boss of the traffickers.

Iliev then finally revealed details about the operation and the tons of heroin, saying that the breaking of a channel for drug smuggling was after all successful.

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