The head of Bulgaria's investigations service has been demanding to receive money from the CEO of country's tobacco monopoly Bulgartabac for the use of the institution he heads.

The news was announced by Bulgartabac CEO Hristo Lachev on Wednesday.

He refused to say when, for what and how much money he was asked for by Angel Alexandrov.

Alexandrov wanted to get information for Deputy Economy Minister Kornelia Ninova, who represents the ministry in the state reserve and Bulgartabac. The head of the investigations service said the attacks against him come from the Economy Minister Rumen Ovcharov. Despite the accusations, Alexandrov said he would not resign from the post.

Last week Minister Ninova accused Alexandrov of demanding she siphoned off funds from Bulgartabac. Ninova said she has been Alexandrov's target for months, adding that she had no plans to cave in to the pressure.

Another accusation came from investigator Tanya Sharlandzhieva, who said Alexandrov asked her to persuade Ninova, a former investigator and colleague, to aid his lobbyist efforts.

Alexandrov has also allegedly demanded that Sharlandzhieva and Zoya Ivanova, another investigator and former colleague of Ninova's, persuaded the deputy minister to issue a licence to a foreign company seeking to import slot machines to the country.

Alexandrov, on the other hand, said that he had been indirectly threatened by Ovcharov. The Minister had used two middlemen to pressure Alexandrov into dropping certain investigations that concerned him, the investigator claimed. According to Alexandrov Ovcharov "thought he owned the whole country and could do whatever he pleased."

As the issue escalated Ovcharov said he hoped the turth would surface and the guilty ones punished.

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