Bulgaria’s Chief Prosecutor or a deputy will be authorized to stop financial transactions or property deals for a period of 48 hours, according to a proposal for changes to the Criminal Procedure Code tabled by four political parties.

The new powers of the Chief Prosecutor will only be exercised in exceptional cases, according to the proposal.

The draft legal changes were tabled by center-right party GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria), liberal party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), the centrist liberal formation Bulgarian Democratic Center, and nationalist formation the Patriotic Front, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has said the proposal was drafted after consultations with representatives of the prosecuting authority and the security services.

The changes to the Criminal Procedure Code envisage the creation of Art. 2013 Para a stipulating that the pre-trial procedure bodies will take the necessary steps to prevent an intentional criminal offence or another type of socially dangerous act and to temporarily seize the instruments that could be used for such an offence.

These activities of the prosecuting authority will be subject to judicial review by a court of first instance.

The new powers of the Chief Prosecutor will be exercised in the case of immediate danger which cannot be prevented in any other way, according to the initiators of the legal changes.

The motives presented in the document say that the amendments are aimed at allowing pre-trial bodies to react in case of an emergency where no other option for preventing an offence is available.

The right-wing Reformist Bloc is rather opposed to the legal changes, while the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) has said it could back them if there is sufficient guarantee that the rules will be observed.

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