In connection with the publicly disclosed information containing data on delays in the progress of the pre-trial proceedings sent by the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office to the Burgas District Prosecutor's Office under its jurisdiction, related to the activities of “ViK“ - the city of Burgas, the acting Prosecutor General Vanya Stefanova ordered an inspection by the “Inspectorate“ department at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office.
If violations are established, the acting Prosecutor General will exercise in full the powers granted to him by law to engage the disciplinary responsibility of the relevant magistrate and/or administrative manager.
The acting Prosecutor General has already unequivocally shown that, if there are legal grounds, he will not hesitate to initiate the implementation of the most severe disciplinary responsibility against any magistrate whose behavior is incompatible with the requirements of the law and professional ethics.
The current leadership of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Bulgaria does not have the authority and has not allowed itself to exert any form of direct or indirect influence and interference in the work of supervising prosecutors in initiated pre-trial proceedings and inspections.
Each prosecutor exercises his powers independently on the basis of the evidence collected in the case, the law and his inner conviction and is responsible for his actions and decisions.
Before the start of today's meeting of the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Radev said:
"Our society has long expected justice and retribution for the robbery, for this to happen, the prosecution should at least not interfere. The Bulgarian prosecution does exactly the opposite - the more actively the Ministry of Interior and the services work to uncover major corruption crimes, the more the prosecution hinders their work. At the beginning of the month, the police arrested employees of ViK-Burgas, headed by the executive director. During the interrogations, interesting confessions were obtained about abuses on a huge scale, we are talking about hundreds of millions of levs, which have flowed to party coffers and to nationally known figures. The Ministry of Interior, in compliance with the law, referred the case to the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, because among the named individuals there are some with immunity.
This is where the problems begin. After procrastination and consultations at the highest level, it is decided to send the case back to Burgas. So they send it, the case travels for a week from Sofia to Burgas. The first designated supervising prosecutor - recusal, the second - recusal, the third - recusal. At the moment, the case is hanging and is almost crushed. At the same time, the employees of ViK-Burgas are walking around freely, they are under pressure from these same political figures. Seeing the tacit support of the prosecutor's office to crush this case, they are already wavering and starting to deny their initial testimony", the Prime Minister added.
And he added: "The motives for the recusal are interesting, the connection with the suspects. Here comes the question of who is the employer of these people - the state or organized crime. Only people who are either very scared or very dependent can afford such a shaming of justice. I do not want to believe that this is the face of the Bulgarian prosecutor's office. From the highest to the lowest level. This is happening on the eve of the election of a new Supreme Judicial Council. An election that should show whether the judiciary is ready to free itself from dependencies. That is why we have stated that there will be no compromise with the professional and moral qualities of the candidates for leadership positions. This election will serve society and justice, not party interests. Despite the resistance of the prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Interior and the services will exercise their powers even more firmly to uncover the great political corruption that emptied the treasury and led to ruin and poverty.