site.btaTISP Floor Leader Says Attempts Made to Break Party Apart by Offering Its MPs Money

Sofia, September 5 (BTA) - Floor leader of the There Is Such a People party (TISP) Toshko Yordanov said on Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Saturday that National Assembly Deputy Chair Tatyana Doncheva from Rise Up BG! Here We Come! has tried to persuade MPs of TISP to support the government of Rise Up! in case the latter receive the third cabinet-forming mandate, promising them ministerial seats and offering money. In reaction, Doncheva described Yordanov's claims as "laughable" and "sheer ravings."

"Tatyana Doncheva is the person who, when talking about who would receive the third mandate, approached our MPs, suggesting they leave the parliamentary group and take others with them, promising ministerial seats and scribbling bribe offers on pieces of paper," Yordanov told BNR,specifying that a sum of 500,000 leva was offered.

He claimed that Doncheva told an MP of TISP the names of those she wanted to recruit from their parliamentary group, including National Assembly Chair Iva Miteva and Ivan Hinovski, among others. The MP approached by Doncheva is ready to confirm this in a lie detector test, Yordanov said, adding that there is camera footage proving the meeting took place. He did not name the MP in question.

Doncheva refuted Yordanov's claims later on Saturday on bTV and called on him to present the camera footage he claims shows her visiting a TISP office. She commented for BNR that she does not represent the Rise Up! coalition, does not take part in government-forming negotiations, and does not distribute ministerial posts. Doncheva said that she will undertake corresponding actions, but did not specify what these are.

On Sunday, GERB leader Boyko Borissov, too, commented on Yordanov's claims by saying that GERB would not allow this scandal to be swept under the rug.

"By my calculations, Rise Up! needed thirty MPs. But 30 times 500,000 [leva] equals 15 million. Where will this resource come from? I wonder why caretaker Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov is not looking into this. Who is this MP of TISP? What is this piece of paper? Why is Yordanov, who says that GERB is a mafia structure, keeping silent, and reported only yesterday about this colossal bribe for a member of Parliament?" Borissov asked.

BSP for Bulgaria leader Kornelia Ninova commented on the case by saying: "I don't understand this madness that has gripped Bulgaria. Entire branches are protesting justifiably out in the street. Prices are hiking, incomes are melting. And amid all of this, the so-called parties of the protest are arguing who went to whose office and offered what."