site.btaGERB-UDF Bill to Close Anti-Corruption Commission Passes in Legal Affairs Committee at First Reading

On Friday, the National Assembly Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs approved at first reading a GERB-UDF bill to close the Anti-Corruption Commission. Bills submitted by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) and by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) - New Beginning were rejected.

The successful GERB-UDF bill received 11 votes in favour, 4 against and 3 abstentions. The CC-DB bill was defeated 5-2, with 11 abstentions, and the MRF-New Beginning motion was turned down by 2-5, with 11 abstentions.

MRF-New Beginning had proposed the closure of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the repeal of the Anti-Corruption Act. It also suggested that the State Agency for National Security (SANS) take over the investigative functions for corruption.

CC-DB had proposed that the Anti-Corruption Commission be abolished in its current form and replaced by a Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interest. It also envisaged that within two months of appointing members to the new commission, a committee be established to review ongoing operational cases, including representatives from SANS, the Ministry of Interior, the Prosecution Office, and the new Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interest.

The GERB-UDF bill, which got first-reading approval in the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, seeks to close the Anti-Corruption Commission, with functions for detecting corruption to be assumed by the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the prosecution service, while prevention, declarations of conflict of interest, and asset declarations would be transferred to the National Audit Office.