site.btaFour Prosecutors, Three Investigators Face Disciplinary Punishment over High-Profile Trade in Influence Case

Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov has proposed disciplinary punishment for four prosecutors and three investigators over what is largely known as the Eight Dwarfs case for trade in influence in the judiciary. Sarafov has sent the proposals to the Prosecutors Chamber of the Supreme Judicial Council.

The case took its name from a 2020 investigation of the Anti-Corruption Fund which exposed a ring for company theft and trading in influence, involving members of the judiciary.

In early July, Sarafov ordered that a team of the Sofia Appellate Prosecution Office check all prosecutors' files and pre-trial proceedings related to the case, including the 2021 decree with the refusal to initiate pre-trial proceedings. "The inspection has found numerous violations by the investigators and supervising prosecutors in ensuring the timely, lawful and successful conduct of the investigation and collection of the necessary evidence in the shortest possible time so as to reveal the truth in the pre-trial proceedings initiated by the now closed Specialized Prosecutor's Office," Sarafov's office said. 

The review team concluded that the omissions (for periods of between one and two years) by magistrates in seven prosecutorial cases had resulted in unjustified delays in the proceedings.

In view of the findings of the check, the Acting Prosecutor General asks the Prosecutors College of the Supreme Judicial Council to initiate disciplinary proceedings against prosecutors Dilyan Deyanov, Iveta Markovich, Kiril Peychinov and Miroslav Iliev, as well as against investigators Svetlana Stoyanova-Vayze, Neli Todorova and Petranka Rabadzhieva.  

Three people have already been charged over the Eight Dwarfs case: former ranking investigator Petar "the Euro" Petrov, ex-wife Lyubena Petrova and prosecutor Dilyan Deyanov.  Petrov fled the country before he was charged and rumour has it that he went to Dubai where had a stroke or has died, but the Bularian authorities did not get an official confirmation from the Dubai police.