Minister of Justice Andrey Yankulov stated that he is about to make a decision whether to implement the instructions of the prosecutor's college on the proposal he submitted related to Borislav Sarafov.
In his words, the "irregularities" indicated by the college are rather formal and do not affect the essence of the allegations made.
"I do not share the thesis of the prosecutor's college that there are any irregularities in my proposal, neither on one nor the other point. And from this point of view, of course, I will have to consider how to proceed from here on, because in my opinion there really are no irregularities. But on the other hand, in view of the efficiency and moving things forward, one can also come to the conclusion that the more appropriate option would be to possibly eliminate these non-existent irregularities, in order to avoid stopping the process, which I believe do not exist anyway," Yankulov said in the studio of "Denyat ON AIR".
According to him, however, there is a visible reluctance on the part of the prosecutor's office to consider such issues.
He pointed out that this impression is formed not only by the specific case, but also by the overall institutional behavior on topics related to Sarafov's status and responsibility.
In his words, if the alleged violations are recognized as proven, they could lead to the most severe disciplinary punishment - dismissal from the judicial system.
Nevertheless, he expressed doubt whether there will ever be a real consideration of the case, since according to him, new formal grounds for delay may be discovered. "There is enough evidence for the violations I allege by Mr. Sarafov and the prosecutor's office should deal with this issue on the merits, after naturally first initiating disciplinary proceedings. There is obviously no desire for this at the moment in the prosecutor's office and a person in my position is put in a position where he has to choose his future behavior based on complete ambiguity and complete impossibility of predicting in the future what the behavior of the people who have to decide on the proposal would be", Yankulov also told Bulgaria ON AIR.
He drew a parallel with previous cases in which institutions have interpreted the law in a way that has practically blocked its implementation.
According to him, a similar pattern is observed whenever the actions affect the established judicial status quo. He also commented on Sarafov's resignation, noting that the lack of a public explanation on his part has left room for doubts and speculation.
According to Yankulov, this creates the feeling that personnel changes in the judiciary are not happening as a result of internal institutional will, but under the influence of the political situation.
Regarding the new leadership of the prosecutor's office, he stated that the change brings at least one important advantage - the presence of a legally performing prosecutor general, whose legitimacy is not questioned.
This, in his opinion, represents the restoration of basic legality in the management of the institution.