The CCTV system monitoring traffic on Sofia's main streets and venues has not been properly functioning for months, an investigative journalist has argued.

Slavi Angelov told the Bulgarian National Television that shortage of funding at the Interior Ministry makes it impossible for the institution to transfer payments to the company maintaining the system.

In Angelov's words, the issue which has been ongoing for roughly a year, prevents authorities from solving the mystery around Petko Sertov, the former head of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) who went missing last Friday.

This week police unveiled the license plate of his Opel Astra, and reports followed soon that the vehicle had been spotted near the border with Greece.

However, Angelov argued that the CCTV system, which had already helped solve criminal puzzles, could have been very useful.

Sertov's home is in downtown Sofia, just a few hundred meters away from the National Palace of Culture (NDK), and his apartment block is overlooking the former military history museum, known as "the Military NDK".