The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office has established that former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov has committed a crime, as he has been deemed responsible for the illegal wiretapping done by the Interior Ministry.

On Tuesday, the prosecutors announced that they are dropping the charges pressed against three former directors of the Specialized Directorate Technical Operations of the Interior Ministry, Sergey Katsarov, Kamen Kostov and Tsvetan Ivanov in relation to the wiretapping scandal that has been shaking the country recently.

The prosecutors have established that Tsvetanov was responsible for the actions of the three employees.

The former Interior Minister, who is currently the election campaign manager of his center-right GERB party, has denied any wrongdoing on numerous occasions.

Charges cannot be pressed against Tsvetanov, since he is now running for Parliament, and therefore has immunity.

The scandal broke out at the end of March, when Sergey Stanishev, leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), submitted a tipoff to Chief Prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov, about illegal wiretapping of politicians, businesspeople and magistrates which had taken place during  Tsvetanov's term in office (2009-2013).

At the end of last week, a secretly recorded conversation between former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, former Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, and already-former Sofia City Prosecutor, Nikolay Kokinov, leaked in Bulgarian media, stirring a massive scandal.

The talk in the scandalous recording basically revolves around corruption charges pressed against Naydenov and Kokinov being in hot water over breaches he had committed, and ways for both to get out of them.

The conversdation is filled with profanities, curses, vulgarities, and insults of prosecutors, politicians, and journalists.

A full transcript of the conversation can be read HERE.

It is yet to be determined who recorded the conversation – and whether Tsvetanov had anything to do with it.

The center-right GERB government of Borisov and Tsvetanov resigned amid massive protests against corruption and poverty in February, prompting President Rosen Plevneliev to adjourn the Parliament, appoint a caretaker Cabinet and schedule snap elections for May 12.

GERB has a slight edge over the opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party, according to polls.

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