site.bta Prosecutors Demand Indefinite Detention of Seven Road Transport Administration Employees

Prosecutors Demand Indefinite Detention of Seven Road Transport Administration Employees

Sofia, April 2 (BTA) - The Specialized Prosecution Office (SPO) has demanded indefinite detention of seven employees of the Road Transport Administration (RTA), including its Director Tsvetelin Tsvetanov, who were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday along with other RTA officers suspected of corruption. The alleged corrupt practices have included extortion of road hauliers, bribes taken in order to get transport operations licensed, faking of driving test results and counterfeiting of driving licences.

Speaking in the seaside city of Varna on Saturday, Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski quoted the SPO as saying that the corrupt scheme at the RTA has been functioning since the beginning of 2015. Moskovski said more than 500 driver test protocols will be examined in order to decide what part of the tests and the subsequently issued driving licences should be invalidated and withdrawn.

So far there is no evidence to suggest that Transport Ministry employees other than those working with the RTA may have been involved in the corrupt scheme, he said. The ministry has received many alerts about bribes taken by RTA officers and each alert has been investigated, he added.

Moskovski noted that he had favoured Stanimir Florov as potential RTA chief, and to this day he still believes that Florov could do a good job fighting corruption in the agency.

The SPO presented the court with 32 volumes of evidence from the RTA investigation. Part of it was collected using special surveillance means. The evidence concerns RTA Director Tsvetanov and eight other people.