site.bta70-Plus Alerts about Geshev's Wrongdoing Probed since 2018, Prosecution Service Says

In the period from 2018 to date, over 70 alerts alleging violations and/or crimes committed by Ivan Stoimenov Geshev in his capacity as Prosecutor, Administrative Head of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office, Deputy Prosecutor General and Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria have been received, the Prosecution Office of the Republic of Bulgaria said on Tuesday. The alerts were submitted by citizens, lawyers, civil associations, media, and NGOs, and the Office itself opened case files on whistleblower media publications to check data about alleged violations or crimes perpetrated by the Prosecutor General.

The alerts filed with the Prosecution Office were promptly dispatched to the competent Specialized Prosecution Office and, after it was closed by a decision of the National Assembly, to the Sofia City Prosecution Office – the only prosecution of the country with the competence to investigate magistrates, persons with immunity and members of the Council of Ministers. Also, the supervising prosecutors in turn ordered checks by the respective staff of the National Police, Chief Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime (CDCOC) , the Counter-corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission (CCUAAFC), and others.

Every year, alerts against Geshev were filed and/or forwarded to the Supreme Administrative Court, Sofia District Court, Sofia City Court, the Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the Inspectorate to the Supreme Cassation Prosecution, the CCUAAFC, the Commission for Protection against Discrimination, the Commission for Professional Ethics and Prevention of Corruption in the SJC.

The SJC also received proposals from justice ministers and members of the SJC itself demanding to relieve the Prosecutor General of his duties before the end of his term of office. The public is aware of the grounds for those requests, made on two occasions by two consecutive justice ministers, both of which were rejected by the SJC Plenum.

According to the acting legislation, there has not been – nor is there – any obstacle to conduct an independent investigation of the Prosecutor General. He has repeatedly made statements before a prosecutor, the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and CCUAAFC in relation to the filed alerts.

In the course of the checks, the prosecutors have made substantive rulings, as is the procedure in with the case-files of all other Bulgarian citizens. The standard is identical, regardless of the official position of the person who is the subject of the alert.

Suggestions that the Prosecutor General is out of control, unaccountable and omnipotent do not correspond to the truth, given that he is repeatedly accountable. For the third year now, the Members of the National Assembly have not fulfilled their constitutional obligation to hear the Attorney General's report on the application of the law and on the activities of the prosecution and investigative bodies. The last time MPs initiated a hearing on the reports of the Prosecutor General, the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court was in 2020. At the same time, however, Ivan Geshev has been heard before parliamentary committees, proving that a mechanism for holding the Prosecutor General accountable exists.

According to the above-mentioned information on the alerts and inspections carried out on them, the allegations that the Prosecutor General is untouchable is a political thesis that is factually and legally unfounded, destroys the authority of the Prosecution Office and creates public distrust towards state institutions, the Prosecution Office said in its announcement.