A former employee of Bulgaria’s State Agency Technical Operations (DATO), a special entity at the Council of Ministers in charge of the use of special surveillance equipment, has been sentenced to two years of imprisonment, according to a media statement of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office.

Antoaneta Parvanova was arrested in February and was charged with leaking information about wiretapped persons in exchange for sums of BGN 500- BGN 3000.

DATO head Tsvetan Kitov explained then that the illegal activities of Parvanova had been detected as a result of the introduction of a new security system, according to reports of Sega daily.

He said that the new system had allowed DATO officials to find out that she had made illegal inquiries in the period November-December 2013.

Kitov noted that it was possible that Parvanova had engaged in these activities before that, adding that the old security system had not allowed the Agency to trace such activities of its officials.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Borislav Sarafov informed that some people had paid for “monthly subscriptions” so that they could be informed whether their phones were being wiretapped or not.

He made clear that Parvanova had also provided information about the motives cited in the requests for the use of special surveillance equipment.