Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor to Remain Silent until Election Day

Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor, Boris Velchev, confirmed Tuesday that his office has received a claim regarding the blackmail case, involving the country's top presidential contender, Rosen Plevneliev.

Last Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, head of the GERB election headquarters, speaking for journalists, revealed that Plevneliev had declined reporting an extortion case.

In 2007, Plevneliev told Tsvetanov that three municipal councilmen from the City Hall, known as the "municipal brokers," asked him for a bribe of EUR 500 000 to secure his ownership of a small land plot in the Sofia Business Park, one of the top projects of the presidential nomination of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party as a businessman, before entering politics.

The plot was property of the City Hall and Plevneliev needed it to finalize the project.

Tsvetanov further informed that after learning about the case he advised the now-presidential hopeful to report it to the police, but the latter declined on the grounds "he did not want to participate in such mechanisms."

Speaking for the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, on Monday, the municipal councilman from the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP, and Socialist candidate to run for Mayor of Sofia in the upcoming October 23 elections, Georgi Kadiev, confirmed that three councilmen have blackmailed Plevneliev.

Kadiev declined disclosing the names of the three individuals, but stressed the Prosecutor's Office must be notified about the case.

Meanwhile, also on Monday, the site for investigative journalism, bivol.bg, reported that one of its editors, Atanas Tchobanov, and Petar Penchev, both members of the Association for Free Speech Anna Politkoskaya, have sent a letter to the Chief Prosecutor notifying him about the blackmail and Tsvetanov's and Plevneliev's failure to report it, along with the Penal Code texts that are the base of their claim.

Velchev told the media that he was expecting similar alerts to inundate his office with the approaching elections, some of them simply slander, but promised that all will be probed according to the rules and the law.

The Chief Prosecutor further informed that he would not make any statements in the next 40 days, effective Tuesday and information on the above said alerts would be released in line with the media strategy of his office.

"We will not allow anyone to turn us into a factor in the election process. We want the elections to be won by the best politician, not by the one who managed to file the most claims with us," he said, adding that the Prosecutor's Office, the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security, DANS, are going to work together on the organization and the monitoring of the elections. The directives would be signed by the end of the week, according to Velchev.

Regarding the other case, where some 700 Russians, 200 Finns and dozens of persons from Lithuania waited for days to get home after their flights were canceled due to an alleged EUR 3.5 M debt to carrier Bulgaria Air from operator Alma Tours, the Chief Prosecutor said that the incident tarnished seriously the country's reputation.

He informed that both companies are being probed by the criminal business police for embezzlement and illegal redirection of funds and/or for concealed bankruptcy while the probe must conclude in several days from now.

"We have not, in any way launched pre-trial proceedings – we just asked the police to execute a check for the time being," the Prosecution Head pointed out.

Velchev confirmed that he had indeed spoken with Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, Saturday and it was precisely the latter who alerted him about the importance of what was going on with the stranded tourists.