site.btaDeputy PM Kuneva: Judges Should Use Every Opportunity to Clear Judiciary's Name

Deputy PM Kuneva: Judges Should Use Every Opportunity to  Clear Judiciary's Name

Sofia, March 25 (BTA) - Judges should use every opportunity to clear the Judiciary's name, and the Bill for Countering Corruption among Senior Officials is such an opportunity, Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva told journalists Friday. She was asked to comment on the position of the Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) on the Bill.
 
On Wednesday, the SCC came up with an opinion that the Bill does not strike a balance between protection and sanction and creates preconditions for arbitrariness and populism. On Thursday, SCC President Lozan Panov said that the unclear texts in the Bill creates preconditions for witch hunting. Panov criticized sections of the Bill for lacking adequate precision, which, in his opinion, leaves room for undue pressure. According to Panov, the law stipulates that politicians and magistrates should also fall within the scope of the inspections, envisaged by the law. The SCC President, however, believes that magistrates should be inspected only by magistrates from the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council.

Kuneva commented that there are many criticisms directed at the Judiciary, which is the face and prestige of the State. "If I were in the place of the college, I would rather use these opportunities to clear the name of this just profession," she said.

In her words, the magistrates should meet the same standards as the other high-ranking officials. In accordance with the Bill and the Constitution, magistrates submit their property declarations to the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council, but only the National Bureau under the Bill is authorized to conduct in-depth checks into the property by comparing the data in property registers, the Traffic Police Department of the Interior, and other institutions.

Kuneva said that the introduction of unsigned alerts is a good and serious measure. "If you open the website of the European Commission's European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), you can see the prototype of what we did in our bill," she noted. OLAF too works with unsigned alerts, she added. "Whether or not an alert will be thrown in the bin along with all the evidence of a conflict of interest, is a decision that society and the State should take," Kuneva told journalists.