„The President of the Republic shall have no powers in relation to the conduct of inquiries or investigations into offences, and shall have no powers in relation to the appointment or dismissal of deputy ministers.“
This is part of the answer of Secretary General of the Head of State Tsveta Timeva to a request of Iskra.bg addressed to Rumen Radev. The reason for writing to the presidential institution was an interview given to us by the head of the Road Safety Institute Eng. Bogdan Milchev, in which he reveals that during a meeting in 2021 Radev was informed by his then Advisor and current Caretaker Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov about allegations by a construction company that Deputy Regional Development and Public Works Minister Zahari Hristov had asked them for a bribe. Also present during the meeting between the head of state and Stoyanov were representatives of the company in question, Regional Development Minister Violeta Komitova and the former head of the State Property Directorate of the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry, Todor Stoyanov.
Shortly thereafter, details of the scheme were revealed in the media by Todor Stoyanov, who said, „The man from the private company who came told us that he received a phone call from Zahari Hristov. They knew each other and were supposed to meet in Yagodovo, at the house of Zahari Hristov himself. The conversation had focused on the subject of them having to receive money from the state for work done on road construction. But the payment was delayed. Whereupon Zahari had promised this payment would be made but demanded 10% from the company. The reaction of the builder was that this amount was unaffordable for him. He told Zahari that he could give him BGN 10,000. After this meeting Violeta Komitova called Secretary General of the President Dimitar Stoyanov on the phone, told him briefly what kind of meeting we had. Then we went with her and the same person to Dimitar Stoyanov.„
This meeting was followed by one with the President. 3 days after that Zahari Hristov was removed. Surprising to everyone was that with the arrival of the new cabinet, on August 4, Hristov was reinstated. The very source of the information, Todor Stoyanov, was fired.
In order to clarify the situation, on 18 October, Iskra.bg asked President Rumen Radev the following questions:
- Was there really such a meeting between you, Mr Radev, your Advisor Dimitar Stoyanov, the Minister of Regional Development Violeta Komitova and representatives of the construction company during which you were informed about the unacceptable actions of Zahari Hristov?
- If there was such a meeting, Mr Radev, why did you not report it to the Prosecutor’s Office?
- Mr Radev, have you spoken to the Deputy Minister for Regional Development and Public Works, Zahari Hristov, about the allegations? If you have spoken to him, what has he stated?
- Are you going to verify the allegations of a bribe demand by Zahari Hristov?
- Will you report to the competent institutions so that Zahari Hristov can be held accountable?
- As Head of the caretaker cabinet, will you sack a deputy regional minister?
- Will you investigate whether the allegations made by Eng. Bogdan Milchev, given his interview with us, that construction companies appoint the Ministers of Regional Development and Public Works, are true?
We received the answer to our query on 1 October. It begins as follows:
„With regard to the questions raised in your application for access to public information, filed under reference number 64-00-31 of 18.10.2022, we would like to inform you that a prosecutor’s investigation has been initiated in the case you have described. According to Art. 198, para. 1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, investigation materials may not be disclosedwithout the Prosecutor’s permission, otherwise liability under Article 360 of the Criminal Code will be incurred.”
From this we conclude that the case is still being verified. Let us hope that this time the Prosecutor’s Office will go all the way and prove whether or not Zahari Hristov asked for a bribe, and if he did – to take the responsibility. It is surprising, however, the silence of the Presidency and the Head of State, from where we should have heard at least a clear position on the scandal, because at the moment there is an impression of an „umbrella“ over certain persons who are currently in power.
