Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which is a junior partner in the governing three-way coalition, said Tuesday he had never stolen anything.

"Never in my life have I stolen anything unlike Ivan Kostov", were Dogan's exact words, as he commented for the first time the demand of former PM Kostov's party Democrats for Strong Bulgaria that the Parliamentary Committee on Corruption should investigate the MRF leader over his five estates.

The demand was made public more than a week ago, and after that the party leader Ivan Kostov called for a "clean hands" operation with a full investigation of the properties owned by all politicians.

"Democrats for Strong Bulgaria and Ivan Kostov suffer from the confusing of fundamental terms. The past can be forgotten but not so easily", Dogan commented and promised to give a special press conference within a week or two in order to clarify the issues about his and his party's estates.

When asked where he owned the property in question, the MRF leader said: "May it please God that I have them."

Ahmed Dogan is notorious with some of his statements, including the admission in 2006 that "rings of firms" supported the work of political parties in Bulgaria, and the statement in 2007 that the buying of votes was a "European phenomenon".

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