Rumen Petkov, a member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), has argued that former Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova is being investigated by the prosecuting authority in connection with the change of status of a plot of land on the Burgas beach.

Speaking Saturday in the Black Sea city of Varna, Petkov, as cited by Standard daily, suggested that prosecutors were to establish whether Pavlova's actions constituted an administrative offence or malfeasance in office.

He told journalists that the saga with the plot of around 1 decare under "The Old Frigate", a ship functioning as a restaurant on the central beach in Burgas destroyed by fire in May 2011, had started in 2012.

Petkov claimed that Konstantin Grebenarov, District Governor of Burgas, had received a request for the sale of the plot on October 22, adding that in order for the transaction to take place, the legal status of the land had had to be changed to private state property.

Petkov informed that Grebenarov had asked the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works to change the legal status of the land on the very next day so that the sale could be finalized.

He made clear that the Regional Development Ministry had rejected the motion, demanding a motivated opinion, which had been submitted on November 19.

"This is where the series of crimes committed by Lilyana Pavlova starts. On October 25 she submitted this proposal for coordination with all ministries, together with a report and a draft decision of the Council of Ministers for declaring the plot private public property,"Petkov stated.

He noted that the Finance Ministry had refused to change the legal status of the property but Pavlova had failed to comply, breaching the rules of procedure by submitting the draft decision in its original form at the Council of Ministers sitting on December 12.

He specified that the Finance Ministry representative attending the December 12 sitting had presented the objections of the institution and the government had returned the draft decision for revision to the Regional Development Ministry.

"Lilyana Pavlova, however, stuck to her guns, and on December 17 she submitted the same text without the corrections saying that the property was not to undergo a change of legal status or to be sold," Petkov argued.

He claimed that Pavlova had failed to introduce the corrections, neglecting instructions of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to give the District Governor of Burgas the opportunity to sell the property.

Petkov, former Interior Minister in the Socialist-led three-way coalition government, was adamant that Pavlova had to be declared guilty of malfeasance in office over the matter.

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