Yes, in recent days there have been personnel changes in three of the main directorates of the Ministry of Interior. But these directors have not been dismissed, they have not been "shoved" outside the Ministry of Interior, if I may put it that way. They were already temporarily appointed to these positions and are now being reassigned to other positions, where their operational capacity will be used. This was stated in the program “Offensive with Lyubo Ognyanov“ on NOVA NEWS, the acting Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Interior Ivan Anchev, commenting on the replacement of the heads of the “National Police“, “Fight against Organized Crime“ and “Gendarmerie, Special Operations and Combating Terrorism“.
He emphasized that the new directors, who took office a few days ago, are “part of these directorates for years and are former deputies“. “So - there is no drama and no political context should be sought for these replacements”, Anchev is categorical.
When asked if there are still directors of Regional Directorates who have been dismissed, after 23 out of a total of 28 regional heads were replaced last week - Anchev emphasized that “there are no changes in the number”. "It is the right of every manager in a system to work with people in whom he has faith and trust", the deputy minister emphasized.
And he was categorical that "these were not changes for their own sake". "An analysis and assessment of what they have achieved over the years has been made for each one. Some of them are people of high integrity. But it should not be forgotten that in the last few years there have been a number of violations, especially with regard to the elections. This is the goal of our government - to hold fair and impartial elections", Anchev emphasized.
According to him, one of the main things in the analysis that was paid attention to is how electoral fraud was counteracted.
He also commented on the meeting in a restaurant between Minister Emil Dechev and the head of the "Criminal Police" department at the "National Police" General Directorate Angel Papalezov. “Mr. Papalezov handed over to Mr. Dechev an annotation - the most general reference of the information published in the media on the “Petrohan” case. That is, there was no operational reference, there was no analytical reference - and these are two different types of documents that would reveal nuances of the investigation itself. And as for where the meeting was held - it could take place in many places. There is no law that determines where such meetings can or cannot be held. So - I don't see anything wrong”, the deputy minister is categorical.
And he pointed out that he has no information regarding the investigation on the “Petrohan” case. “I explicitly refused to make hypotheses because I am not familiar with the details. This is a very serious criminal incident and a human drama. But I completely agree that the inadequate reaction of the Ministry of Interior in the first days led to speculation and divergent statements, including from responsible persons, which fueled various conspiracy theories", Anchev admitted.
As for the security of European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva, he confirmed that she had security assigned to her based on a signal that she felt threatened. "The decision was made by a commission in the Ministry of Interior, in which I am not involved, but the security she received is adequate to the threat", the deputy minister said.