site.btaJustice Ministry Tightens Rules on Prosecutor General Investigations

The Ministry of Justice published draft legislative changes for public consultation on Tuesday to make the mechanism for investigating the Prosecutor General workable and subject decisions to halt some high-level corruption cases to mandatory judicial review.

The aim of the proposed amendments is to introduce effective institutional oversight of the actions of the ad hoc prosecutor investigating the prosecutor general or his deputies, which the ministry said is currently lacking in practice.

Amendments to the Judiciary Act provide for that oversight to be exercised by a judge from the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Cassation, serving as a supervising prosecutor, selected at random from a list approved by the Chamber’s General Assembly. The list is to include judges of the highest rank with substantial experience in criminal justice.

The supervising prosecutor may review the investigating prosecutor’s acts and decisions, issue binding instructions, assess the lawfulness and merits of procedural steps, and reopen the proceedings where new circumstances arise. The supervising prosecutor is appointed upon the opening of the proceedings, ensuring that the investigating prosecutor’s actions are subject to oversight at all times.

The draft also mandates judicial review of any decision to discontinue criminal proceedings concerning an offence allegedly committed by the Prosecutor General.

Mandatory judicial review is also being introduced for the termination or suspension of criminal proceedings in a number of corruption cases involving people in senior public positions.

The bill does not establish a new mechanism; rather, it renders the existing one operable by closing legislative gaps and introducing effective oversight safeguards. The explanatory notes expressly refer to an “intolerable gap in the Criminal Procedure Code”, including a cross-reference to a non-existent provision, which in practice prevents the mechanism from functioning.

On 12 December, Anton Urumov, a judge of the Sofia City Court, was randomly selected through the Unified Information System of the Courts as the prosecutor responsible for investigating the Prosecutor General and his deputies.

Daniela Taleva, also a judge of the Sofia City Court, was the first magistrate randomly selected to investigate the Prosecutor General. The draw was held on 7 July 2023 among 22 judges approved under the new procedure introduced by amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and the Judiciary Act, in the presence of the media and Lada Paunova, Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court of Cassation.

As of 7 December this year, Taleva no longer holds that position, as her term has expired.