Former deputy minister of disaster management Delyan Peevski was both surprised and angry to be called to the prosecutor's office and be questioned. Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)
A deputy minister in Bulgaria's centre-left government, who was dismissed last week over a corruption investigation, said he is expecting an apology.
"Some people will have to apologize to me," the former deputy minister of disaster management Delyan Peevski said on Tuesday after he was quizzed at the prosecutor's office for more than half an hour.
"I was surprised to get fired, I am surprised to be here now," Peevski said, adding he will comment the allegations against him after reading the arguments for his dismissal.
The 27-year-old Peevski was appointed deputy minister on the quota of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the peak of one of the most dashing careers on the local political scene.
Two deputy ministers in Bulgaria's government were dismissed Saturday while Economy and Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov was told to take leave.
Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev dismissed Deputy Economy Minister Kornelia Ninova and Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Delyan Peevski without spelling out his arguments or how they might be implicated in the alleged corruption scandal.
A week ago Bulgartabac head Hristo Lachev said that during a meeting with the head of the investigation service Anguel Alexandrov Peevski pointed out the man who should take the helm of Sofia tobacco company.
Alexandrov, who was also dismissed, has allegedly lobbied for deals with the State Reserve, which was headed by Peevski.