site.btaInterior Minister Replaces Heads of Regional Police Directorates, Demands Vote-Buying Parties to Be Named

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Interior Minister Replaces Heads of
Regional Police Directorates, Demands
Vote-Buying Parties to Be Named


Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, May 19 (BTA) - The directors of certain regional police directorates will be demoted, caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters here on Wednesday, adding that it is still early to name names.

Georgi Hadjiev has already been replaced as director of the Sofia Police, Rashkov said, motivating the decision by the way police officers treated participants in anti-government protests in the capital last year.

The Interior Ministry later named Hadjiev's deputy, Senior Commissioner Anton Zlatanov, as his successor and reported that the ex-director will be transferred to the Ministry's Gendarmerie and Special Operations General Directorate.

Rashkov was in Plovdiv in connection with a specialized operation of his Ministry's Internal Security Department, in which seven officers with the Plovdiv Police were arrested, including 3rd Precinct Police Department Chief Samouil Hadjiev. The seven are in custody, and another five civilians with criminal records are being tracked down in connection with pimping, drug offences and bribery, according to a statement released by Plovdiv District Prosecutor Roumen Popov. The operation followed a six-month-long investigation, Popov specified.

Rashkov commented that he will not tolerate such acts and will reshuffle the Plovdiv Regional Directorate of the Interior. "I am here because I need to have a very serious discussion with the regional police chiefs," he told reporters.

Asked about the Director of the Plovdiv Regional Directorate of Interior, Senior Commissioner Yordan Rogachev, who is on sick leave, the Minister said Rogachev first needs to be located. "The heads of important departments cannot simply go on unpaid leave until September, with early parliamentary elections due [on July 11]," Rashkov noted.

He was referring to local police chiefs and to some heads of special services, who reportedly took long unpaid leaves of absence, presumably to avoid being fired by the caretaker Cabinet.

Rashkov commented that all special services' heads had been invited to a meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev but sent their deputies instead. They had been invited to a second meeting, after which "measures under the law will be taken against senior office holders who have practically given up their official duties to wait and see what happens", the Interior Minister said.

Caretaker Cabinet Spokesperson Anton Koutev told reporters after the regular cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the special services operate well for the time being, "even with their deputies".

President Radev: Heads of National Security, Intelligence agencies do not work well with the President

President Rumen Radev, however, said Wednesday that the heads of the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and the State Intelligence Agency (SIA) do not work well with him. He noted that according to the law, the information should be provided to the National Assembly's spokesperson, the Prime Minister and the President, "but this legal requirement is not observed on many occasions."

According to him, the lengthy leaves of absence taken by some heads of the security services are an act of abdidcation from their responsibility towards national security and a clear sign that their loyalty rests with former prime minister Boyko Borissov and not with Bulgaria.

The President further said there is no proposal for him to decree their dismissal, because these things are decided with proposals by the Executive.

Radev noted that this is about principles and not about reshuffles and sackings for the sake of it. "There must be transparency, responsibility and zero tolerance towards criminality and unloyalty, not to the President, but to Bulgaria," he said.

According to him, two months are a very short period of time for any government, but the sign being given is important. "It's important to stand behind the principled position - reinforcing statehood. There must be statesmanship, there must be talk and actions to reinforce the rule of law, end abuses, theft, neutralize the huge behind-the-scenes dealings, which have acquired substantial resources, to have a true separation of powers.

Rashkov: Vote-buying Parties Must Be Exposed

The Interior Minister also commented on probes into vote buying. He said that criminal proceedings have been launched and the parties for which votes had been bought are identified. Rashkov believes that this information should be made public before the forthcoming early elections so as to prevent further vote buying. "If the prosecution service does not do this, we will", he warned.

In his words, these parties are headed by "well known individuals who had huge political ambitions".

Later on Wednesday, Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev proposed to caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov and State Agency for National Security (SANS) Chair Dimitar Georgiev to set up an interdepartmental team to improve the collaboration and coordination among the three institutions so as to ensure the legitimacy of the July 11 early parliamentary elections, the Prosecution Service said in a press release.

Such interdepartmental teams have been put together before parliamentary elections and have produced sustained good results and practices entirely beneficial to Bulgarian citizens. The teams operate from the launch of the month-long election campaign until 30 days after the Central Election Commission declares the official results, Geshev explained.

According to the prosecution service, a number of offences against citizens' political rights were prevented thanks to the fine coordination and information exchange between the institutions during the April 4 parliamentary elections. The team also gathered evidence on the activity of criminal groups formed to buy votes for a particular candidate, party or coalition, and charges were pressed.

The prosecution service said further that during the April 4 parliamentary elections, it froze over 425,000 leva and seized the equivalent of another 383,000 leva in various currencies under the Measures Against Money Laundering Act. In doing so, the prosecutors took over 800,000 leva out of the "vote market". NV, RI, LN/DS, MT/LG,MY