The members of the Energy Committee, nominated by the parliamentary group of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), requested Tuesday a hearing of the caretaker Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov in connection with the raid conducted by the European Prosecutor's Office in the premises of the state gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz, CC-DB said in a Facebook post.
Their request is that the hearing be held on August 14, at a meeting of the Energy Committee in the National Assembly.
Given the lack of an official statement from Bulgartransgaz and the divergent media reports on the root cause of the actions, the purpose of the hearing is to clarify whether the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which investigates crimes with EU funds, carried out these procedural and investigative actions in the framework of an investigation related to the Chiren Underground Gas Storage (CHGS) or the contract with the Turkish company Botas. Until he took up his current position, the caretaker Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov was the executive director of Bulgartransgaz EAD and therefore he would have the most complete information on the case, CC-DB believe.
“I very much hope that the European Prosecutor's Office will reach the final step of this investigation,” CC co-leader Kiril Petkov told journalists before a meeting of his parliamentary group. “We have witnessed many investigations that have been launched, they should come to an end. Let us comment when it happens, but from our point of view, there is obviously a reason why they are there. We don't know the exact reason, whether it's Botas, whether it's Chiren, whether it's other things, but let's see that the European Prosecutor's Office is doing its job,” Petkov added.
Asked about the negotiations for a caretaker cabinet, he noted that the most basic goal of a caretaker cabinet is to have fair elections. According to him, the rally in support of Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov was organised by MRF’s Delyan Peevski for one purpose - to try to create public tension in order to keep Kalin Stoyanov. “Peevski obviously cares very much about Kalin Stoyanov being in office for the next elections, which from our point of view would be the biggest risk to fair elections," Petkov added. Asked whether CC-DB would stand united in the autumn elections, he said he believed that unity makes strength.
Caretaker Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov also commented on a raid launched in Bulgartransgaz. National police officers are cooperating and working on a decree of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which has assigned various investigative actions, he said, adding that the actions are ongoing at several addresses - in Sofia, Sliven and Kozloduy.
/YV/
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