site.btaUPDATED Continue the Change Co-Leader Says "It Took Two Days of Borissov - Peevski Cabinet for Prosecution Service to Start Acting as Bludgeon"

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) co-leader Kiril Petkov commented for the press on Thursday that it took only two days "of the Borissov - Peevski government for the prosecution service to start acting as a bludgeon". 

He said it does that in two ways: one is by threatening directly people and the other is by leaking investigative information to the news media. "The third thing that is happening is that all smearing media outlets and the prosecution office work in coordination," he said.

"They are also scare-mongering, telling people that there is no money left," he added.

Petkov also said: "With lightening speed, the country is getting back to the old model. The good news that this nightmare will last only two months and then we will have elections".

Bulgarians will be voting in snap general elections on June 9, when they will also be electing their members of the European Parliament.

Answering a question whether pressure had been exerted on former Interior Ministry secretary general Zhivko Kotsev to resign, Petkov pointed out that there was no logic in holding a joint meeting between Kotsev, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, Sofia prosecutor Iliana Kirilova, and acting Counter-Corruption Commission head Anton Slavchev. In turn, Petkov asked why a sudden meeting between representatives of different institutions that have nothing to do with each other took place.

"If Zhivko Kotsev has committed a crime, let him be investigated, but if Zhivko Kotsev was called to be threatened to resign, that in itself is a crime," Petkov said.

Petkov stressed that caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev did not call CC-DB representatives for talks when appointing Kalin Stoyanov as caretaker Interior Minister. "Kalin Stoyanov's right-hand man is incumbent Secretary General," Petkov said. In his words, no in Bulgaria there is "an absolute axis – [Delyan] Peevski and [Boyko] Borissov, a Prime Minister who is told what to do, an Interior Minister who is at his post to protect vote buying [at the upcoming elections] and a Secretary General who is his right-hand man".

Commenting on the ongoing probe into a Belgian company which had used the services of an accounting firm of CC-DB MP Nastimir Ananiev, Petkov asked why the police had to raid someone's office instead of requesting the documents, which is the normal thing to do, he added. They raided Ananiev's offices just yesterday [Wednesday], eight months after they received the alert, Petkov noted.

DB co-Chair Atanas Atanasov said that the prosecuting magistracy has turned into a factory for mudslinging. He asked where is the evidence that Kotsev and Customs Agency Director Petya Bankova are linked with smuggling groups. Atanasov said he was 100 percent convinced that Kotsev was not involved in criminal activity.

On April 4, the Interior Ministry reported that Kotsev has tendered his resignation as Interior Ministry Secretary General at his own request. A day later, at a joint briefing with former Primer Minister Nikolay Denkov, Kotsev withdrew his resignation. Denkov said that Kotsev resigned as pressure had been exerted over him to do so. A few days later, Denkov referred the Kotsev’s case to prosecutor Daniela Taleva. On April 9, PM Dimitar Glavchev’s caretaker cabinet proposed to President Rumen Radev to decree the termination of the powers of Kotsev as Interior Ministry Secretary General. On April 10, Radev issued a decree terminating the credentials of Kotsev. The Ministry's Deputy Secretary General Dimitar Kangaldzhiev will be acting Secretary General until a successor is appointed for Kotsev's office.