The scandal in Bulgaria continues, and the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security seems bent on getting to the bottom of this scandal that has rocked Bulgarian politics. The Sofia Echo today reports that the former Minister of the Interior, Roumen Petkov, may face criminal charges over the disclosure of the identity of an Interior Ministry operative. It would appear that Bulgarian politicians have been taking notes on recent American political history.
Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev spoke with Dnevnik Daily on the matter, but gave no certain answer as to whether there would be an indictment. He did state, however, that if it was necessary to lift the immunity of Petkov (who is still a member of the Bulgarian Parliament after his resignation from the Minister of the Interior position) then it would be done. “I would not hesitate to ask for that,” he said. In a plot twist worthy of a spy novel, The Sofia Echo reports that the new string of indictments could revolve around meetings with “controversial businessmen” (Bulgarian politico-speak for suspected mobsters who have not been convicted in a court of law) and the passing of classified information from the Interior Ministry’s Organized Crime Division to such “controversial businessmen.”
In another twist, it may be that reputed mobster Alexei Petrov was actually a secret agent of the Interior Ministry (!) and if that is the case then an indictment against Petkov will be certain. The news is byzantine and confusing, worthy of a cold war spy novel. It would seem a cleaning of the Ministry of the Interior will be underway, and while the scandal is breathtaking in just how corrupt the Bulgarian government is, its exposure gives hope to the possibility that further reforms to Bulgarian state institutions will be undertaken.
