site.btaCC-DB Co-leader Petkov Describes Coercion Claim against Him as "Another Absurd Accusation"

MP Kiril Petkov, co-leader of Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), on Friday described a coercion claim against him as "yet another absurd accusation."

Earlier in the day, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov asked the National Assembly to lift the immunity of Petkov and another CC-DB MP, Bozhidar Bozhanov, so they can be prosecuted for offenses allegedly committed in 2021-2022 (in Bozhanov's case) and 2023 (in Petkov's case), linked to the Ministry of Electronic Governance. Petkov is accused of pressuring then electronic governance minister Alexander Yolov into consulting his predecessor Bozhidar Bozhanov about any dismissals of staffers hired by Bozhanov and about all strategic matters and public procurement procedures.

Writing on Facebook, Petkov called the chief prosecutor's move "another attack by the Bulgarian bashi-bazouk" (in the past, "bashi-bazouk" were irregular soldiers of the Ottoman army notorious for their brutality and looting).

He sees a connection with the fact that the government's former election coordinator Rosen Karadimov was exposed by the CC-DB as a man of US Magnitsky Act sanctioned Delyan Peevski. According to Petkov, Karadimov has been nominated to head the Commission on Protection of Competition "to coordinate over BGN 30 billion in public procurement contracts."

"Another set of fake accusations via a captured Prosecution Service," Petkov wrote.