se times
25/11/2010
Former Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumen Petkov has called for a probe into allegations he met with organised crime bosses back in 2006 to discuss the redistribution of the local drug market.
(Sega, 24 Chasa - 25/11/10; The Sofia Echo, Sofia News Agency, FOCUS News Agency, Dnevnik.bg, Mediapool - 24/10/11)
Former Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumen Petkov has called for a probe into allegations he met with organised crime bosses back in 2006 to discuss the redistribution of the local drug market.
(Sega, 24 Chasa - 25/11/10; The Sofia Echo, Sofia News Agency, FOCUS News Agency, Dnevnik.bg, Mediapool - 24/10/11)
Former Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumen Petkov said Wednesday (November 24th) that he was ready to give up his immunity as a member of parliament so that the prosecution can investigate his alleged involvement in drugs crimes.
"I will do this so that the whole truth could be revealed," he said in an interview with Sofia-based private television channel bTV.
A senior member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Petkov was appointed interior minister in the Socialist-led three-way coalition government that took office in the Balkan nation after inconclusive parliamentary elections in June 2005.
He resigned in April 2008 following revelations that he had met in 2006 with suspected crime bosses Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov, who are known as the "Galevi brothers" although they have no family relationship. At the time, the notorious businessmen from the southwestern town of Dupnitsa were under investigation for tax fraud and drug trafficking.
The revelations prompted speculations in the local media that the purpose of what Petkov had described as a "working meeting" was to persuade the duo to stop shooting members of a rival gang in the run-up to Bulgaria's EU entry in January 2007.
The meeting was arranged and attended by then-secret agent Alexei Petrov, who later became adviser to the former head of the State National Security Agency (DANS) and served in that post until last year when he was jailed as part of a high profile anti-mafia police operation, dubbed "Octopus," not related to the events surrounding Petkov's resignation.
Petrov, who said to have shares in an insurance company and other private firms, was released and placed under house arrest last month, after a Sofia court downgraded the organised crime charges pressed against him.
Last week, incumbent Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and the head of Bulgaria's customs agency, Vanyo Tanov, alleged that the real purpose of the 2006 meeting was to discuss the rearrangement of the country's illegal drug market.
Tanov, who formerly headed the unit tasked with combating organised crime, claimed that Petkov reached a deal with the Dupnitsa businessmen that defined their area of operation and that reserved for Zlatomir Ivanov, "the Beret", another key figure in Bulgaria's underworld.
"I will do this so that the whole truth could be revealed," he said in an interview with Sofia-based private television channel bTV.
A senior member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Petkov was appointed interior minister in the Socialist-led three-way coalition government that took office in the Balkan nation after inconclusive parliamentary elections in June 2005.
He resigned in April 2008 following revelations that he had met in 2006 with suspected crime bosses Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov, who are known as the "Galevi brothers" although they have no family relationship. At the time, the notorious businessmen from the southwestern town of Dupnitsa were under investigation for tax fraud and drug trafficking.
The revelations prompted speculations in the local media that the purpose of what Petkov had described as a "working meeting" was to persuade the duo to stop shooting members of a rival gang in the run-up to Bulgaria's EU entry in January 2007.
The meeting was arranged and attended by then-secret agent Alexei Petrov, who later became adviser to the former head of the State National Security Agency (DANS) and served in that post until last year when he was jailed as part of a high profile anti-mafia police operation, dubbed "Octopus," not related to the events surrounding Petkov's resignation.
Petrov, who said to have shares in an insurance company and other private firms, was released and placed under house arrest last month, after a Sofia court downgraded the organised crime charges pressed against him.
Last week, incumbent Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and the head of Bulgaria's customs agency, Vanyo Tanov, alleged that the real purpose of the 2006 meeting was to discuss the rearrangement of the country's illegal drug market.
Tanov, who formerly headed the unit tasked with combating organised crime, claimed that Petkov reached a deal with the Dupnitsa businessmen that defined their area of operation and that reserved for Zlatomir Ivanov, "the Beret", another key figure in Bulgaria's underworld.
He and Tsvetanov also said, however, that all records from the Petkov-Galevi meeting were destroyed. Bulgarian media reports noted that, in the absence of any solid evidence in support of their allegations, it would be extremely difficult to establish the truth about the former interior minister's discussion with the "brothers".
On Tuesday, Volen Siderov, the leader of the nationalist Ataka party, who currently heads the parliamentary committee supervising DANS's work, sent a letter to Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev, asking him to demand the lifting of Petkov's immunity from prosecution.
While noting that he was willing to give up his immunity voluntarily, the former interior minister claimed Wednesday that he was the victim of a campaign, aimed at diverting public attention from the real problems facing the country. Petkov called Tsvetanov and Tanov's allegations an "absolute lie and slander," saying he was planning to file a defamation case against the two officials.
He also said he had sent a request to Velchev's office, asking him to order an investigation into the allegations against him.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
On Tuesday, Volen Siderov, the leader of the nationalist Ataka party, who currently heads the parliamentary committee supervising DANS's work, sent a letter to Chief Prosecutor Boris Velchev, asking him to demand the lifting of Petkov's immunity from prosecution.
While noting that he was willing to give up his immunity voluntarily, the former interior minister claimed Wednesday that he was the victim of a campaign, aimed at diverting public attention from the real problems facing the country. Petkov called Tsvetanov and Tanov's allegations an "absolute lie and slander," saying he was planning to file a defamation case against the two officials.
He also said he had sent a request to Velchev's office, asking him to order an investigation into the allegations against him.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
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