site.btaInterior Ministry "Did Not Obstruct" European Prosecutors' Investigation

Addressing Parliament here on Thursday, Interior Minister Daniel Mitov denied that his Ministry is stalling an ongoing investigation of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) against Bulgatransgaz CEO Vladimir Malinov.

Replying to a question by Lena Borislavova MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), Mitov said that the supervising prosecutor had not found such or any other procedural breaches in the way his ministry is handling the probe.

"This particular case, as well as all other investigations, have been conducted in a timely and legally conforming fashion. The investigating authorities have reported and are reporting, in writing and orally, on the present stage of the investigations, which they are procedurally bound to do," the Interior Minister said. "All investigations are completed within the statutory time limits," he pointed out.

The opposition lawmaker's question was also addressed to Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov and concerned Malinov's reinstatement to his position at Bulgartransgaz after the end of his tenure as caretaker energy minister in the Dimitar Glavchev cabinet.

The investigation in question was launched in the summer of 2024. concerns an alleged abuse of EU funds in the award of public procurement contracts for doubling the capacity and modernizng the Chiren underground gas storage in a BGN 600 million project which is still in progress. Interviewed by the Capital weekly on February 28, Bulgaria's European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva said: "Due to obstruction by the Interior Ministry, we were unable to carry out searches at Bulgartransgaz immediately. When we finally entered the premises, key evidence was gone." 

Borislavova commented that the answer does not address the substance of her question. "Are you pulling the leg of Bulgarian citizens, or don't you understand what I'm asking you," she said, turning to Mitov. She assumes that the purpose of the five-day delay of the search was to enable a destruction of documents. The Interior Minister did not comment on this allegation. He argued that Thursday's hearing was politically motivated.
 
Another CC-DB MP and former interior minister, Boyko Rashkov, argued that it was unclear why the ministry delayed by five days the searches and seizures that were ordered by the EPPO as urgent. "An impression is left that the Interior Ministry leadership did not really have as an objective to locate and seize all relevant materials," he added.

Several days ago, Malinov was summoned to appear at the Bulgarian office of the EPPO in an accused party capacity but did not present himself, pleading ill health.