site.btaSupreme Judicial Council Refuses to Probe "TZUM-gate" Scandal

Supreme Judicial Council Refuses to Probe "TZUM-gate" Scandal

Sofia, April 27 (BTA) - The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) will not investigate what is popularly known as the "TZUM-gate" scandal. On Thursday, the majority of the SJC members refused to look into the case.

TZUM-gate broke out after a recent leak of secret videos which alluded to a controversial meeting between Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov and Sasho Donchev, founder and CEO of the private natural gas company Overgas and publisher of the influential "Sega" daily. The meeting took place in an office of businessman and politician Georgi Gergov in the building of Sofia's TZUM department store. During the meeting, Tsatsarov allegedly complained to Donchev about cartoons of himself published in "Sega" and about BiT television and the Yes Bulgaria party. According to Tsatsarov's account of the events, Donchev asked him to put pressure on prosecutors probing a regulator in a case related to the supply and sale of natural gas.

At the start of Thursday's two-hour debate at the SJC, its member Kalin Kalpakchiev said the facts about the Tsatsarov-Donchev-Gergov meeting should be investigated. Kalpakchiev argued: "We need to know whether the suspicions about unregulated contacts of the Prosecutor General could warrant an assumption of corrupt behaviour. We should take a responsible approach in the best interests of the state." Kalpakchiev was one of several sponsors of the investigation proposal.

Another member, Kamen Ivanov, said: "We cannot keep silent, because if we do, the guesses and the speculations will never stop. The SJC owes an answer."

Prosecutor General Tsatsarov said no one was pressured or threatened, despite Donchev's request for him to do so. Tsatsarov said: "I have not pressured prosecutors. What is more, I have refused to pressure prosecutors. The persons I have met are not defendants, indictees, or people with a criminal record. The allegation that they are being investigated shows poor knowledge of the facts. I have nothing to be ashamed of, I have not been to any secret meeting in Sofia. Very big interests are behind all this. I will not comment on all those screenplays and the people who invent them all the time. There are people at this table who have been ordered to follow the script."

Supreme Cassation Court President Lozan Panov said Tsatsarov's response was not enough. He said many questions remained unanswered.

Tsatsarov replied: "You are not in a position to judge me. I am a grown-up person and I can say 'No to fear'." But Panov insisted to know what the TZUM meeting was about and who proposed it. He demanded that Tsatsarov should say what exactly happened.

SJC Representative Member Dimiter Ouzounov said the purpose has been to discredit and humiliate the Prosecutor General.