site.btaCC-DB to Oblige Interior Minister to Provide Classified Information on Busted Cigarette Smuggling Ring Case

Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Deputy Floor Leader Bozhidar Bozhanov told reporters here on Friday that the coalition will submit a draft decision obliging the Minister of the Interior to provide all classified information on the case of the cigarette smuggling ring that was busted in Plovdiv, South Central Bulgaria, despite instructions from senior police officers to refrain from such an operation.

Bozhanov and DB Chair Atanas Atanassov commented Thursday's sitting of the parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order. CC-DB demanded that the Committee adopts a decision to provide Parliament with the reports on the anti-smuggling operation.

Atanassov accused GERB leader Boyko Borissov of lying when he reported that Interior Minister Daniel Mitov is taking measures against the officials who tried to cover up the ring. Atanassov stated: "Yesterday [on Thursday] at the Internal Committee, a proposal to consider our draft decision to provide the documents from the Interior Ministry was absolutely rudely denied."

Bozhanov said that since the Committee Chair, GERB-UDF MP Manoil Manev, would not allow any discussion on why the details around the operation should be shared with Parliament, CC-DB will table a draft decision to ask the plenary to request from the Interior Minister to provide all the relevant information on the case. The prosecution service will also be contacted with a request to allow sharing of details that are investigative secret.

CC-DB MP Ivaylo Mirchev told reporters on Thursday that the smuggling ring is connect to Movement for Rights and Freedoms - New Beginning Leader Delyan Peevski and to Hristoforos Amanatidis.