site.btaFormer Anti-Mafia Deputy Head Suspended from Interior Ministry, Minister Mitov Says

Interior Minister Daniel Mitov told a press briefing that Kalin Litov, the former deputy director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, had been temporarily suspended from the Interior Ministry on April 9 after disciplinary proceedings were initiated against him. Mitov was speaking after the presentation of the annual report of the Regional Directorate of the Interior in Sliven (Southeastern Bulgaria).

Mitov said Litov had been suspended due to an internal procedure. Other institutions are working on the matter as well and the report has been sent to the prosecution service.

In early April, the BOEC civic movement published information about communication between police officers and their superiors from the Combating Organized Crime Sector in Plovdiv, who allegedly tried to hinder an operation against an illegal cigarette ring.

The Interior Ministry announced that 10 disciplinary procedures had been initiated. The prosecution service has been informed in order to establish any illegal activities by police officers. The Interior Ministry said the case, made public by BOEC, had been subject to an internal review by the Ministry's Internal Security and Inspectorate Directorates.

On April 3, Daniel Mitov told journalists that Kalin Litov is no longer the Deputy Director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. Commenting on allegations that the Interior Ministry had covered up a smuggling ring in Plovdiv, Mitov said that a definitive conclusion will be reached once the institutions involved have completed their investigations. "This is part of a much larger inquiry," he added, noting that all relevant findings had been referred to the prosecution service.

On April 9, Mitov was given a hearing by the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order. The Minister explained to the MPs that all responsible top officers practically no longer hold their positions. "The head of the department has not been at work since last year, I removed the head of the sector [in Plovdiv] a month ago, and the Deputy Director of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime has also been removed," Mitov said. He also recalled that the case had been subject to an internal review ordered by his predecessor Atanas Ilkov, and that Mitov had received the results of the investigation.

At the plenary sitting of Parliament on April 9, the governing coalition of GERB-UDF, BSP – United Left and There is Such a People (TISP), backed by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) – New Beginning, defeated a motion for the legislature to give a hearing to Interior Minister Daniel Mitov and police officers on the case.

Later, reacting to CC-DB's claim that "the power holders continue to cover up the Plovdiv cigarette ring", Mitov told a news briefing in Targovishte (Northeastern Bulgaria) that the hearing on the case, demanded by Yes, Bulgaria, will be held next week.