Candidate for Bulgarian Top Prosecutor Denies Shady Property Deals

Sotir Tsatsarov, Chairman of the Plovdiv Regional Court and candidate for Bulgarian Chief Prosecutor, reiterated Sunday that two recent publications about his property status were malicious attacks against him.

In commenting before bTV about investigative journalistic reports that a construction company has donated to him and to his wife an apartment and that his wife was involved in alleged tax evasion, Tsatsarov said he had an idea where the attacks came from, but would abstain from mentioning the source.

In the interview, he basically restated earlier explanations that his wife paid all taxes for the purchase of two orchards in the village of Kostievo near Plovdiv, and that the said apartment was not his residence, but was not a donation either.

The Chief Prosecutor candidate was firm the notary deed was for a purchase, for which his family paid EUR 21 120. He showed from afar in the TV studio the property's notary deed.

Regarding claims he was the favorite of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, GERB, for the post of Chief Prosecutor, he explained he knew Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, from the time the latter was Chief Secretary of the Interior, but was not in any way someone from his closest circle.

Last week, Borisov declared the Plovdiv judge was the "best district judge he ever worked with when he was still Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry."

Tsatsarov is rumored to be well-liked by GERB and particularly by Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

When asked about the other two candidates, Tsatsarov declined offering "an assessment," only saying they had good, professional relations, and would remain friendly, regardless of the outcome.

"Don't expect me to throw dirt on them. I hope we will have a procedure, not a smear campaign," said he.

The 56-square-meter apartment in question, donated by the construction company Kalisto Mati, is located in a newly-constructed building in downtown Plovdiv, the site for investigative journalism Bivol.bg wrote, citing and publishing documents found with the Plovdiv Registry Agency.

It remains unclear why the original document obtained by Bivol from the archives of the Registry Agency lists the apartment in Plovdiv is a donation and what the notary deed presented before bTV includes exactly.

When approached for comment by Novinite.com, Atanas Tchobanov from Bivol said they would ask the Supreme Judicial Council, VSS, to request from the Registry Agency all available documentation on the case.