site.bta30-40% of Hemus Motorway Money Went into GERB Party Coffers - Interior Minister

January 4 (BTA) - Not all of the resources allocated for
the construction of parts of the Hemus Motorway went towards the
 actual construction, Interior Minister Boiko Rashkov told the
media on Tuesday. "Out of the money remitted in advance to some
of the would-be motorway construction companies, 30 to 40 per
cent was channelled to a certain political party. The
prosecution service asked me to name that party, and I named it
to them earlier today: it was the GERB Political Party," Rashkov
 said.

GERB governed Bulgaria between 2009 and 2021, with two
interruptions.

Rashkov spoke to journalists after he was questioned by the
Sofia City Prosecution Office (SCPO) for two hours earlier on
Tuesday in connection with a statement he had made on Bulgarian
National Radio (BNR) that he knows where the money intended for
the construction of the Hemus Motorway actually went.

There is only one defendant in a case of alleged misuse of
funding for Hemus: a 42-year-old man named Borislav Kolev, who
is in indefinite custody.

According to Rashkov, the prosecution's job now is to prove that
 the said money was received by GERB representatives. "I have no
 doubt that this was the way the money went," he asserted.

The Interior Minister repeated to the media what he had told the
 interviewing prosecutor: "I do not trust the prosecution
service. And I am absolutely convinced that if I give specific
facts and go deeper into the matter, the information will be
divulged to [GERB leader] Borissov."

The SCPO reported that during Rashkov's questioning on Tuesday
in his capacity as a witness in the case, he did not say
anything concrete - for example, he did not name any concrete
individuals or places involved in the handover or concealment of
 the money he was talking about.

The Interior Minister did not agree to have the questioning
session audiorecorded or videotaped, the SCPO said. According to
 the prosecutors, Rashkov was asked to say anything he had to
say about the Hemus case, anyway he chose to say it.

The SCPO quoted Rashkov as describing his own remarks for BNR as
 "political", adding that they "could be nothing but political".
 RY/VE

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