site.btaAnti-Corruption Organization, Investigative Journalists Make Public Hefty Volume of Documents Allegedly Belonging to Fugitive Power Broker

A hefty volume of documents from the period 2014–2020, allegedly belonging to Petyo “The Euro” Petrov, a fugitive power broker in the judiciary, was made public during a press conference at the BTA National Press Club in Sofia Thursday by the Boec anti-corruption movement and the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD.bg).

A former head of the Sofia investigative service, Petrov is being tried for extortion and for using forged documents to steal hundreds of thousands in cash and gold bars from a businessman. His role as a major “fixer” in the judiciary transpired in investigations by the Anti-Corruption Fund. He vanished in 2024 the day it transpired that the law-enforcers were after him and has been missing ever since.

Boec chair Georgi Georgiev said that they would discuss the Petrov archive with the political parties in parliament. "I have held meetings with several embassies, representatives of partner services, and Members of the European Parliament. We have initiated the process of alerting European institutions," he added.

Georgiev explained that about two months ago, he was contacted by an individual who expressed a desire to hand over documents claimed to be the personal archive of Petyo Petrov. The source used to be part of Petrov’s close circle at a certain point in time. He has left the country since handing over the documents to Boec.

Georgiev said that the documents fall into several categories: signed and unsigned prosecutorial decrees, as well as tipoffs to the institutions; material evidence obtained through the use of specialized surveillance methods; documents from the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security; documents related to the failed Corporate Commercial Bank; requests for assistance from businessmen and officials to Petyo Petrov, as well as personal documents.

Asked whether the prosecutorial decrees found in Petrov’s archive had been verified, Georgiev said they have been proven to be authentic.

He pointed out that he attempted to submit these documents to the Supreme Judicial Council on the day acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov was to be heard in the procedure for election of a permanent holder of the post, but he was denied access. The special prosecutor authorized to investigate the Chief Prosecutor, Daniela Taleva, also refused to meet with Georgiev and receive the documents.

According to Dimitar Stoyanov from BIRD.bg, the volume of these documents is impressively but still he suspects that it is only a small part of Petrov's archive.

Boec and BIRD.bg offered journalists the opportunity to receive the entire "archive" in electronic format so that the information could be analyzed, verified, and presented to the public.

In the last two Parliaments, ad-hoc committees probed the activity of Petar Petrov as a power broker in the judiciary but they did not have enough time to produce any results of consequence.