The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has upheld the decision of Bulgaria's conflict-of-interest commission acquitting Sofia City Court Chair Vladimira Yaneva  of conflict of interest charges.

A Tuesday publication in Sega daily informs that the refusal of the prosecuting authority to appeal the decision before the administrative court means that it takes effect.

On August 29, the commission ruled out the existence of a private interest and an ensuing benefit in Yaneva's case.

The conflict-of-interest watchdog claimed there was no connection between the property purchase deals signed by Yaneva, junior judge at the time, as a proxy of a company owned by her father and the moths-long delay she admitted in 2010 in the embezzlement trial against the former executives of the municipal company Sofiyski Imoti.

Margarita Nemska, spokesperson for the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, told journalists Tuesday that the property deals in question had been sealed prior to the entry into force of the Conflict of Interest Prevention and Disclosure Act.

Nemska further noted that conflict of interest and reasons for recusal were totally different concepts.

In the beginning of August, Yaneva self-recused from the Sofiyski Imoti trial amid mounting media and social pressure.

The Inspectorate at Bulgaria's Supreme Judicial Council (VSS)Nofficially confirmed that the SCC Chair had flouted deadlines in the embezzlement trial, as well as in a number of other cases, for which she had to face disciplinary action.

VSS has not yet ruled on the disciplinary penalties for Yaneva and three other judges.

Yaneva's appointment as SCC Chair was contested by her main rival, Velichka Tzanova, and the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) is due next week.

Yaneva, a close friend of Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, was elected SCC Chair on May 30 despite her scant four years of experience as a judge.

The appointment triggered tensions in the judiciary which resulted in two protest resignations of VSS members and a boycott of the selection of their replacements.

At the same time, two parallel protest campaigns urging the "totally discredited" VSS to collectively resign were organized by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee and by the bivol.bg website for investigative journalism.