Asked to comment on demands for launching an investigation against President Rosen Plevneliev, Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov noted that the issue of the immunity of Bulgaria's head of state was clearly defined in the Constitution.

Responding to a question about a tip-off concerning Plevneliev's involvement in off-shore companies, Tsatsarov explained Thursday that Bulgaria's Constitution stipulated that "only state treason and violations of the Constitution are reasons for taking steps against the President."

He specified that proceedings against the President were to be initiated by MPs before the Constitutional Court.

Plevneliev's name was involved recently in a scandal over publications on a website for investigative journalism that he had siphoned USD 1 M from Lindner Bulgaria OOD into an off-shore company in Cyprus, thereby depriving the state budget of tax revenues.

Plevneliev adamantly rejected the accusations, saying that he had become the victim of a smear campaign due to his opposition to the appointment of notorious media tycoon Delyan Peevski as Chair of the State Agency for National Security (DANS).

Werner Hoffmann, General Manager of Lindner Bulgaria, also issued a statement rejecting the claims about Plevneliev, adding that the company had achieved good financial results under his management.

Speaking before Thursday's extraordinary sitting of the Consultative Council on National Security,Volen Siderov, leader of nationalist party Ataka, announced over a megaphone that he had come to demand Plevneliev's resignation.

Siderov urged Tsatsarov to demand that the immunity of Bulgaria's President be lifted due to suspicions of participation in shady financial deals.

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