The new week began with a sharp confrontation between the chairman of the parliamentary group (PG) of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) Delyan Peevski and the Bulgarian president Rumen Radev. Peevski asked the prosecutor's office and the services to inform whether there are investigations against people from the presidential administration, and Radev saw in this the fear of the emergence of an inevitable alternative in the face of his rumored new party in making, reported BGNES.
Peevski called on the prosecutor's office and services to disclose data on inspections and cases related to the presidential administration. According to him, there should be no doubts in society about an institutional umbrella or concealment of violations related to abuse of power or corrupt practices, because only in this way will the state prove its Euro-Atlantic values and principles.
The scandalous revelations, because of which Peevski defined the presidency as a "dark institution full of a lot of cash", became known as Cashgate - the road of Koprinka named after the presidential adviser Nikolay Koprinkov (editor's note: "Koprinka" refers to "silk", hence its association with the "Silk Road" and the used metaphor).
President Rumen Radev stated that "the emergence of an alternative is inevitable. Bulgarians are waiting for such an alternative (on the political landscape - editor's note) that will bring back normality and the European perspective for Bulgaria." According to him, the directed media hysteria "betrays the fear of a new party".
The head of state, in turn, called on the competent authorities to withdraw all reports, files, and cases about Bulgarian Telecommunications Company, "Bulgartabac", KTB bank (shut-down for money laundering - editor's note), Bulgarian Development Bank, dams, magistrates, Bulgarian Customs, and for placing up "fronts" - owners of properties, hotels, and businesses abroad. "An awful lot of questions remain. How can we fight corruption in this situation?" said Radev.
Since Friday, the prosecutor's office has been checking whether there are old files and cases against people from the entourage of President Rumen Radev. A supervising prosecutor has also been appointed, who will consider whether to call for questioning the leader of the parliamentary group of the MRF, Delyan Peevski, who for days has been calling on the state prosecution to say whether he is holding the cases of corpses connected to Rumen Radev or his advisers. The city prosecutor of Sofia Iliyana Kirilova specified that the reason for the investigation was a report by the Anti-Corruption Fund and media publications: "We are looking for the names that were mentioned - Koprinkov, Ushev. So far, we have not found a specific report against Mr. Koprinkov, and as far as President Radev is concerned, you know that there is a decision of the Constitutional Court. There is currently nothing to be done there while Mr. Radev is president."
The exchange of remarks between the president and Peevski continued after the latter decided to respond to Radev's statement. "There was fear in Radev's eyes, not in ours, of the emergence of a new political formation. I expect him to resign and to see him on the political field," said the chairman of the MRF PG, calling on Radev to prove he's a political leader and run for elections. “It is worthy. The only unworthy thing is that this party was financed with dirty money from his official mandates," Peevkski said.
Regarding the president's words that the competent authorities should provide information on the BBR, BTC, Bulgartabac, etc. cases. he would be "glad to have the full information poured out on all the cases." Peevski also expressed surprise at the prosecutor's office's hasty response.
"However, I cannot understand the hasty response of the prosecutor's office. I have not yet submitted my questions to the authorities about the "Silk Road" and the dark cases in the presidency. I'm going to post my questions in an hour, and they answered so quickly that there's absolutely nothing for the president's advisers,” he said. /BGNES
