site.btaLegal Affairs Committee Hears Prosecutor General on Work of Prosecution Service

Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev spoke before Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee on the performance of the prosecution service and contemplated legislative changes.

Before the hearing, Geshev spoke to the press about an investigation against the Nexo crypto-platform. He expressed  certainty that Bulgarian and US prosecutors will cooperate on the case, said that he would communicate directly with his American colleagues and would provide everything that they ask for.

Referring to the report of the GRECO group of states at the Council of Europe, Geshev said that it is supportive of the prosecution service and that he views the formalistic nature of the Penal Code as an obstacle to the successful investigation of any crime, especially high-level corruption.

The Prosecutor General expressed readiness to speak in the plenary hall of the National Assembly because "there are real problems that need to be solved at a legislative level", to use his words. Also, he wants to present statistics on the activities of his office for the past period.

He also reported to the Committee on the prosecution service's legislative proposals in relation to what he finds to be an outdated Penal Code.

Geshev considers the bill providing investigative mechanisms against the Prosecutor General to be unconstitutional and anti-democratic.

Asked about the aftermath of the closure of specialized courts and prosecution services in 2022, he said that the number of phone scams has increased and the criminal group clearance rate has decreased. He also said that the use of special surveillance means has gone down by 70%.

To sum it up, he said the fight against crime was "a disaster".