site.btaSixteen People Detained in Police Operation Linked to Road Transport Administration

Sixteen People Detained in Police Operation Linked to Road Transport Administration

Sofia, March 31 (BTA) - A total of 16 persons have been detained in an operation linked to the Road Transport Administration (RTA), Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov told journalists here on Thursday. He explained that the operation continued throughout the whole night and a total of 54 searches and seizures have been carried out.

Tsatsarov said that it is unlikely that charges will be pressed against all 16 persons who were detained, but seven or eight of them will likely be charged, who are RTA employees. He recalled that the head of the RTA, Tsvetelin Tsvetanov, was detained on Wednesday.

The Prosecutor General noted that big interests are concentrated in the RTA, 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. This concentrates a huge interest in the RTA, it is a source of a corruption risk and a corruption scheme, he added.

Tsatsarov explained that the investigations are following a few different lines. One of them is the intentional manipulation of exams. In the northwestern city of Vidin, for example, the authorities have found test answers on some of the inspectors, who were to conduct exams.

Tsatsarov warned that those who were part of this corruption scheme will be brought to court and the operation will be repeated. According to him, the State must decide whether all of this should be concentrated in a single structural unit and whether these manners of operation should continue.