site.btaUPDATED Interior Ministry Is Actively Searching for Petyo "The Euro" Petrov

The Interior Ministry has been taking all the necessary actions in search for Petyo "The Euro" Petrov, Deputy Interior Minister Lyubomir Yosifov told a hearing in Parliament Thursday. The MPs gave a hearing to representatives of the Interior Ministry, the State Agency for National Security, the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the National Police General Directorate about steps taken in the search for Petyo "The Euro" Petrov.

Numerous operational search actions have been taken to locate Petrov's whereabouts. The authorities have checked residential addresses and business addresses of his companies in Sofia and the northwestern town of Vratsa. Individuals connected to Petrov, including relatives, have been interviewed. Mobile and internet service providers have been asked for data during investigations into mobile phone numbers he may have used. International enquiries have been sent regularly to authorities in countries where he is believed to have stayed. Partner services have been asked for information on possible international travel, registrations at hotels, car purchases and property ownership. Checks have involved the services of Greece, Serbia, Turkiye, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia.

A former head of the Sofia investigative service, Petrov is being tried for extortion and for using forged documents to steal hundreds of thousands in cash and gold bars from a businessman. His role as a major "fixer" in the judiciary transpired in investigations by the Anti-Corruption Fund. He vanished in 2023 the day it transpired that the law-enforcers were after him, and has been missing ever since. In August 2023, he was put on the Interpol wanted list. In December of that year, the European Arrest Warrant withdrawn.

The hearing was moved by MPs of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB). At the start of the hearing, Lena Borislavova MP of CC-DB recalled that a hefty volume of documents from the 2014-2020 period, allegedly belonging to Petyo Petrov, was made public at a press conference by the Boec anti-corruption movement and the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD.bg). She also recalled that IT geeks, styling themselves BG Elves, had located Petrov through his electronic devices using public data.

Interior Minister Daniel Mitov could not appear at the hearing due to a prior commitment abroad.