site.btaHead of Unit Combating Organized Crime Charged with Pressuring a Prosecutor

Sofia, December 23 (BTA) - The Sofia District Prosecutor's Office charged the director of the General Directorate Combating Organized Crime Kalin Stoyanov with trying to persuade a prosecutor to violate her official duty in connection with the administration of justice. Pre-trial proceedings were instituted in the case on December 11.

In the course of the investigation, a number of witnesses were questioned, CCTV footage was seized and the Counter-Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission was ordered to conduct a comprehensive and complete examination of the objective truth.

As a result of the investigation, sufficient evidence has been gathered that Stoyanov loudly tried to persuade a prosecutor to agree with the demands of Borislav Kolev (accused of laundering money earmarked for the construction of Hemus Motorway) not to protest the measure of distraint imposed on him, and to allow him to travel abroad.

According to the prosecution, Stoyanov told a prosecutor supervising the case that she was "putting an end to the investigation" by refusing to comply with the defence's demands, and that she would be held accountable by the public. Stoyanov is free on his own recognizance. The pre-trial proceedings were taken under special supervision by the Sofia Prosecutor's Office of Appeals and the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation.