site.btaPrime Minister Refutes Accusations of Divulging State Secret

Prime Minister Refutes Accusations of Divulging State Secret

Sofia, October 19 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov underwent an hour and a half of questioning at the Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office on Monday in connection with an alert filed against him by the Bulgarian Protest Network (BPN), which has accused him of treason and divulging a state secret.

The alert concerns a recent statement by Borissov about the possible overflight of Bulgaria by Russian airplanes bound for Syria. He made the statement at a party meeting. According to BPN, the Prime Minister divulged a state secret by saying that he had let Russian aircraft fly through Bulgarian airspace.

Borissov said the airplane in question did not overfly Bulgaria and the alert against him was a provocation. "With our legal actions we prevented the passage of such planes. There was nothing that went against the law in my hypothetical statement," he argued.

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Prime Minister Boyko Borissov testified in a trial against Peter Drashkov, who has been charged with counterfeiting Borissov's signature at the time when Borissov was mayor of Sofia (2005-2009).

The prosecution claims that the faking of the signature resulted in the misappropriation of 1.4 hectares of land in Sofia's Strelbishte neighbourhood, where City Hall was planning to build a kindergarten.

Borissov told the court that the signature was definitely not his. He said he was alerted to the deal, which was then halted by City Hall and the alert was referred to the Prosecution.

Borissov said he does not know Drashkov personally.