site.btaDefence for Varna Municipal Councillor Kateliev Requests Termination of Pretrial Proceedings

Lawyer Ivaylo Kostov said Tuesday he will request the termination of the pretrial investigation of Varna Municipal Councilor Yordan Kateliev. Kostov took part in a preliminary hearing, where case materials related to the charges were presented. He added that the case does not make it clear what crime municipal councillor Kateliev allegedly committed, since he has been charged for supposedly colluding with Varna Mayor Blagomir Kotsev and municipal councilor Nikolay Stefanov to ask a witness for a bribe in order to exert influence over former Varna deputy mayor Deyan Ivanov in connection with a specific public procurement. "Which is nonsense," Kostov said.

Varna municipal councilors Yordan Kateliev and Nikolay Stefanov have been charged with soliciting a bribe together with Mayor Blagomir Kotsev.

The lawyer further explained that his client Kateliev is accused of "requesting a bribe from Plamenka Dimitrova in collusion with Mayor Kotsev and Nikolay Stefanov, in order to exert influence over the deputy mayor responsible for public procurements, Deyan Ivanov". "This is the final charge at the moment," Kostov said.

He added that the witnesses have been questioned multiple times throughout the entire investigation process.