site.btaPrime Minister Hosts Working Meeting Focused on Withdrawal of Illegal Driver Licenses

Prime Minister Hosts Working Meeting Focused on Withdrawal of Illegal Driver Licenses

Sofia, April 1 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov Friday conferred with Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov, National Police Director Hristo Terziiski and the Director of the Sofia Interior Ministry Directorate, Mladen Marinov, as well as Deputy Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov and the administrative head of the Specialised Appellate Prosecution Office, Daniela Popova, the Government Information Service said.

On Wednesday, the head of the Road Transport Administration (RTA), Tsvetelin Tsvetanov, was detained after a four month surveillance. On Thursday, 16 persons were detained in a law enforcement operation linked to the RTA.

Friday's meeting comes in the wake of this operation related to the issuing of licenses, registrations and all types of other documents to haulers, in addition to conducting examinations and assessing the results of these examinations for both commercial and noncommercial drivers.

The participants discussed the measures that should be taken in relation to the intentional manipulation of exams and the termination of corrupt practises. The illegally issued licenses will have to be withdrawn, they agreed. In relation to this, the Interior Ministry will be commissioned to check the validity of driving licenses and hauler documents for which there is evidence that they were manipulated.

According to official statistics, 7,225 severe road accidents were registered in Bulgaria in 2015 at which 708 people died and 8,971 were wounded (6,676 with light traumas and 2,295 with severe traumas). The last specialized action of the National Police from February 29 to March 6 this year registered 6,062 traffic violations, sanctioned with 6,792 tickets and 4,038 notices. The police established that 580 drivers were not authorised.