site.btaForeign Minister: People in President's Administration Have Elegantly Tried to Recommend Persons for Ambassadors Abroad

Sofia, June 25 (BTA) - Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said
 on June 24 that people in the President's Administration have
tried in an elegant way to recommend specific persons for
ambassadors to countries where businessman Plamen Bobokov is
active. Zaharieva was questioned by the investigators in a waste
 smuggling case involving Bobokov.

The next day, her testimony was dismissed by the Specialized
Appellate Court (SAppC), because the information is relevant to
another investigation not related to the waste smuggling case.

Before Thursday's SAppC hearing, Bobokov told journalists that
the actions against him, which have involved accusations of
unlawful communication with presidential secretary Plamen
Ouzounov, are aimed to discredit President Rumen Radev and can
be described as "gross manipulation."

The businessman noted that he has even engaged in correspondence
 with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and finds it normal. "It is
normal for business people to talk to the administration," he
said.

Discussing his acquaintance with Ouzounov, Bobokov said the
presidential secretary is not a friend of his family. As for the
 contract between lubricant maker Prista Oil (a company owned by
 Bobokov and his brother) and Ouzounov's brother Angel, he noted
 that it is just one of 5,000 contracts of the company.

The SAppC refused to order Bobokov to be taken back into
custody. The prosecution had demanded that the businessman
remain in custody, because he had failed to pay his 1 million
leva bail on time. The court dismissed the argument. The ruling
is final.

In the waste smuggling case, Plamen Bobokov and his brother
Atanas, former deputy environment and water minister Krassimir
Zhivkov, former Pleven Regional Environment and Water
Inspectorate director Gabriel Savov and businessmen Eygul Emin
and Nikolai Mihovski have been charged with participating in an
organized crime group. They were arrested late in May.

Over the course of the investigation, the Specialized
Prosecution Office published a series of chats between Plamen
Bobokov and presidential secretary Plamen Ouzounov. The
prosecution is obviously trying to make the case that, first,
Bobokov has sought Ouzounov's assistance in connection with a
Russian whose Bulgarian citizenship application has been
rejected; second, Bobokov has sent Ouzounov an application to
delete the criminal record on a Syrian friend; and third,
Bobokov wanted to know the owners of deluxe cars. For his part,
Ouzounov sent Bobokov a ruling of the Supreme Administrative
Court prior to its official publication. The ruling concerned
the Libyan tanker Badr, which was arrested at the port of
Bourgas at the end of 2018 to secure a 9.25 million US dollar
claim against the state-owned Libyan Navigator company.

On June 24, the prosecution service unveiled a chat in which
Bobokov and Ouzounov shared information on matters concerning
Bulgaria's foreign policy. The evidence allegedly shows that
Bobokov proposed diplomats for ambassadors to Algeria and
Nigeria, and both of them got the job. NV/VE