site.btaSpecialized Prosecutor’s Office Seizes Camera Footage from State Agency for National Security

The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) is carrying out actions related to pre-trial proceedings at the State Agency for National Security (SANS), SPO head Valentina Madjarova told BTA on Thursday.

She added that in case of significant public interest, additional information will be presented.

In a separate development earlier on Thursday, Dnevnik and Mediapool reported, quoting their own sources, that the prosecutor's office has requested a list of all Bulgarian and foreign citizens who entered the Council of Ministers between February 23 and March 23.

There is no official information from the prosecuting magistracy yet. The government confirmed that employees of the National Service for Protection seized camera footage and handed it over to prosecutors yesterday afternoon, Dnevnik wrote.

“I have not been informed about this, but if it turns out to be true, it will be a complete disgrace. The Council of Ministers is a meeting point for the European Prosecutor's Office. If they are trying to see who goes in and out of the building to find out who is sending alerts, this will be yet another case of sabotage. I will find out if this is the case, and if it is, this will be yet another outrageous act on the part of the prosecutor's office. It must be investigated very carefully whether they are trying to control the people who send alerts," said Prime Minister Kiril Petkov in Blagoevgrad.

Dnevnik reminds its readers that one of the events at the Council of Ministers during the period under inspection was the visit of European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi. After her visit, the Interior Ministry detained former prime minister Boyko Borissov, former finance minister Vladislav Goranov and PR Sevdalina Arnaudova for 24 hours. Shortly afterwards, the European Public Prosecutor's Office announced that they were working on alerts of systemic corruption perpetrated by senior officials in Bulgaria. Borissov, Goranov and Arnaudova were released, and the prosecution magistracy did not charge them for alleged lack of evidence.