site.btaInterior Ministry Secretary General Kotsev's Dismissal Decreed

President Rumen Radev Wednesday issued a decree terminating the credentials of Interior Ministry Secretary General Zhivko Kotsev, said the President's Press Secretariat. The decree comes in the heel of a decision by the newly appointed caretaker government to terminate Kotsev's powers.

The Government adopted the decision Tuesday without meeting.

Kotsev on Monday took sick leave, and it was reported on Tuesday that he had been hospitalized because of a deteriorated health condition.

The Interior Ministry Secretary General resigned last week but withdrew his resignation shortly after that because, as ex-PM Nikolay Denkov quoted him as saying in an alert to ad hoc Prosecutor Daniela Taleva, that he had been pressured to step down by acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov and Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov.

The caretaker cabinet's proposal came several days after a scandal surrounding National Customs Agency Director Petya Bankova, who was arrested on charges of involvement in a smuggling crime group.

As the Bankova case came to the limelight, discrediting materials about Kotsev started to be leaked to the media, including a number of pictures showing him with a person charged in the same investigation. The evidence presented to the court in order to keep Bankova in custody alleged that she, the Secretary General and the person in question had met.

Under the Ministry of Interior Act, the Secretary General is appointed and dismissed by the President of the Republic on a proposal by the government. 

Later on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry press office said that the Ministry's Deputy Secretary General Dimitar Kangaldzhiev, will be acting Secretary General until a successor is appointed for Kotsev's office.