Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov, who was suspended over a large-scale corruption investigation, said he has extended his leave by the end of the prosecutors' probe.

In a separate development, Bulgaria's senior prosecutor Boris Velchev said that the probe will end on Wednesday, but the official results will be announced next week.

Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev told Ovcharov to take a ten-day leave at the beginning of the month but the order came into effect only after the end of their visit to Moscow, on May 10.

Ovcharov faced wide-spread calls to resign over the allegations of siphoning off massive amounts of state funds. He has been accused of meddling in official investigations of high-level corruption involving the Sofia city heating company and tobacco monopoly Bulgatabac.

The minister, however, is adamant that he will not resign over what has been described as a mega-scandal.

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