site.btaProsecutors Order Experts to Check Content of Briefs on Machine Voting Security Breach

Bulgaria's Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office (SCPO) has ordered experts to check the circumstances contained in State Agency for National Security (SANS) briefs related to machine voting, Vanya Stefanova, who heads the SCPO Specialized Department, told a news briefing here on Friday. A check in connection with computer crime has been instituted in the case.

A SANS brief was sent to the country's leaders to warn of a possible security breach affecting machine voting as a result of actions by Deputy Electronic Governance Minister Mihail Stoynov who videoed the certification of voting machines. That caused an uproar and led the Central Election Commission to ban the use of voting machines in the first round of Bulgaria's local elections on October 29. Subsequently, a Supreme Administrative Court decision allowed machine voting in the mayoral runoffs on November 5.

Stoynov and his entire Ministry have denied any foul play and have argued that the Deputy Minister's actions did not put machine voting security at risk. Electronic Governance Minister Alexander Yolovski said he had delegated all control of the machines' certification to his deputy.

On Friday, Prosecutor Stefanova explained that the experts are supposed to look into all allegations in the SANS documents. They will check computers and the voting machines on which the codes were generated.

Deputy Prosecutor General Maria Pavlova said that statements will be taken from everybody involved in writing the software, the hash codes and the actions taken before the machines' certification.

Pavlova confirmed that statements had been taken from Yolovski and Stoynov.

It also transpired at the news briefing that the prosecution service had instituted pretrial proceedings for malfeasance against an unnamed Electronic Governance Ministry official, responding to an alert on corruption from MPs of There Is Such a People.

The malfeasance investigation is looking into whether officials have been pressured or not. The prosecution service added that statements had been taken from "quite a few individuals". Pavlov explained that Yolovski had been put under protection guard because "there is sufficient reason to warrant this and because of what he stated." 

In late October, There Is Such a People said they had submitted an alert in connection with corruptions and threats against Yolovski over public procurement contracts.