site.btaUPDATED CC Co-Leader Petkov Sees Nothing Tangible in Terms of Anti-Corruption Cases of Acting Prosecutor General Sarafov

We see nothing tangible in terms of anti-corruption cases, said co-leader of Continue the Change (CC) Kiril Petkov on Sunday in Blagoevgrad about regarding the acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov.

"If we want to deal with tangible things for change, we have to deal with the laws for the Recovery and Resilience Plan, with Schengen", Petkov said. In his words, so far Sarafov has been dealing with "semi-political cases", closing the investigation on the euro notes and the gold ingots, and Barcelonagate. Petkov stressed that his party sees "nothing real in terms of anti-corruption cases, we hear nothing about Turkish Stream and the Russian connection". He added that their trust (of CC) in Sarafov is below any level.

Petkov expressed his concern that the transparent procedure of road-fixing, which was prompted by Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Andrei Tsekov may provoke some economic interests to topple the regular government once again.

In response to a question whether the "configuration" of the government was broken, Petkov expressed hope that in the first days of September the dialogue would continue. He highlighted the laws on the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the anti-corruption laws, which CC-DB needs to amend together with GERB as main priorities. "I hope there will be a real law that will really fight corruption in Bulgaria, the law against money laundering, the Schengen laws", Petkov said, calling for a resistance against any pressure from economic interests, who intend to shake the government.

Regarding Alexey Petrov's murder, Kiril Petkov commented that it is "insane" to have flagrant murders in 2023 with the security services remaining unreformed. He said that President Radev did not ask for the replacement of the Interior Ministry's secretary general, which he expects to be the case with the State Agency For National Security (SANS) director as well. He stressed that the matter of the security services should be raised before the leadership of GERB, who should be asked why a law on the reform of the services has not been introduced for three months. Petkov said that GERB should clearly define whether they are with the President or for the reform of the services.

Regarding GERB leader Boyko Borissov's remarks that the CC-DB is governing most of the ministries, Petkov said that Borissov should not forget that there are more than ten appointments in this government and every minister was coordinated with Mariya Gabriel and PM Nikolay Denkov, "so let everyone who supports this government take responsibility and if he has any questions about the appointments, we should talk about them at the coalition councils". Petkov highlighted the importance of the integrity of the people in the Interior Ministry, because the upcoming local elections depend on them.

In response to a question about Boyko Borissov being arrested in 2022 after testimony given by Vassil Bojkov in Dubai, Kiril Petkov said that it is very important "to see whether there will be an exoneration and a cover-up after the prosecutors' investigations" or "whether there will be some truths". He stressed that Bojkov and Vladislav Goranov were included in the Magnitsky Act and expressed his expectation that the Bulgarian court and Prosecution will "do their job".