site.btaMP Atanassov Warns Investigation Data "Will Be Used Against Inconvenient Figures" as Anti-Corruption Commission Closes

first-reading approval of a bill, proposed by GERB-UDF, providing for the closure of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Atanas Atanassov MP of Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria told reporters that investigation findings "will be used against inconvenient figures".

Upon the entry into force of the legislation, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will transfer all cases kept on operational record to the State Agency for National Security (SANS). The bill says the remaining databases held by the ACC which contain case-related information are to be destroyed immediately.

The purpose of the operation is that data obtained through special investigative techniques in some of these cases will be reported as destroyed, while in reality they will be put away and later used against inconvenient individuals whenever those in possession of the data see a political opportunity, said Atanassov.

"The point is that once the ACC is closed, all documents and materials must be properly handed over to the relevant authorities so that work on them can continue, rather than being destroyed," Atanassov said. "We will fight to have this provision removed between the first and second readings in the plenary. As early as July last year, I stated that the ACC should be closed because it has been used as a state instrument against inconvenient individuals."