site.btaProsecution Service: Caretaker Justice Minister's Actions Undermine Bulgarian Prosecutors' Prestige, Affect EPPO's Authority

"The actions of the Interim Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice [Andrey Yankulov], in addition to undermining the prestige of the Bulgarian Prosecutor's Office, also affect the authority of the European Public Prosecutor's Office [EPPO]," the Bulgarian prosecution service said in an institutional position published in Bulgarian and English on its website on Tuesday.

On March 9, Yankulov expressed institutional support for any magistrate willing to speak openly about dependencies and criminal influence within the judicial system. The minister's team declared its backing for a new civic initiative advocating for an independent and free judiciary.

Yankulov's step was apparently prompted by an alert submitted to him by suspended Bulgarian European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva about pressure and threats from senior officials of the Bulgarian prosecution service and a political leader sanctioned for corruption by the US and the UK, the Justice Ministry said in a press release on March 6. It did not name the political leader concerned, but the one who matches the description is Movement for Rights and Freedoms leader Delyan Peevski. In an interview on Nova TV on March 8, Georgieva revealed that in her March 6 alert to Yankulov, she called for an investigation against acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov and Sofia City Prosecutor Emiliya Russinova for malfeasance in office.

In its position, the prosecution service leadership points out that it will inform European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi and EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection Michael McGrath about the actions taken by Yankulov, "which in practice constitute an attempt to discredit the completed disciplinary procedure of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which confirmed the seriousness of the established violations by the Bulgarian representative in the institution - a fact without precedent in the 19-year period of the Republic of Bulgaria's membership in the European Union."

In order to present the objective truth, the prosecution service provides information containing the facts and official communication on the case of the Bulgarian representative removed from office and recognized by the College of the European Public Prosecutor's Office "guilty of a serious violation", the position states.

On February 26, the EPPO said in a press release that Georgieva was found guilty of serious misconduct and that she had been suspended from office and replaced by an interim prosecutor pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings.

On Kovesi's initiative, joint actions were carried out with the Bulgarian prosecution service in 2025, including an exchange of written correspondence. At EPPO's request, acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov and the Sofia City Prosecution Office sent the requested materials related to the "removed Bulgarian representative" to Kovesi at the EPPO, the position points out.

On April 30, 2025, the Permanent Representation of Bulgaria to the European institutions in Brussels sent an open letter to the Office of the Prosecutor General, accompanied by a letter from Kovesi to Sarafov, requesting the provision of written information, including witness statements in ongoing criminal proceedings against the representative of Bulgaria in the EPPO, the prosecution service writes.

It explains that Kovesi's letter indicates that a file has been opened at the EPPO regarding alleged corruption of the Bulgarian European Prosecutor following a report received by the institution from a private individual on October 24, 2023. "In view of a publication in a Bulgarian media outlet on 10 March 2025 regarding a 'letter and video recording of a conversation between Teodora Georgieva and Petyo The Euro', the European Chief Prosecutor makes an official request to provide 'any information relevant to the ongoing criminal investigation of Ms. Georgieva, for the purpose of assessing and monitoring our own investigation, which could be affected'," the position says.

The reference is to Petyo "Peppi the Euro" Petrov, a notorious power broker in the Bulgarian judiciary and a fugitive from justice.

On June 3, 2025, Sarafov sent a response to Kovesi containing a 5-page report prepared by the supervising prosecutor on pre-trial proceedings initiated on April 25, 2025 at the Sofia City Prosecution Office regarding the fact that between the beginning of 2020 and March 2025, a judge at the Sofia City Administrative Court and European Prosecutor at the EPPO used this official position to obtain sums of money as an unlawful benefit, which constitutes a criminal offence under the Penal Code. "The report cites excerpts from the testimonies of three witnesses questioned during the investigation, which indicate that 'Peppi the Euro' provided the magistrate 'Teddy the Euro' with the sum of 10,000 leva monthly," the prosecution service specified.

It apparently refers to Teodora Georgieva who, until her appointment as European Public Prosecutor in late July 2020, was judge at the Sofia City Administrative Court.

"The biased dissemination of baseless and defamatory allegations not only damages the reputation of individual magistrates but also undermines the authority of the judiciary. Such actions are incompatible with the principles of the rule of law and institutional accountability, which require that any allegation of unlawful conduct be verified by the competent authorities in accordance with the procedure established by law before being used for public and political insinuations. It is particularly disturbing when such insinuations are spread and legitimized in the public sphere by individuals who claim expertise in the field of justice and who should be aware of both - the standards of responsible public communication and the consequences of spreading unverified claims about the activities of the judiciary," the prosecution service claims in its position on Tuesday.

"The allegations that the above-mentioned recordings were distributed by the Prosecutor's Office or the Office of the Prosecutor General are categorically false and defamatory. Such insinuations constitute yet another attempt to involve the Prosecutor's Office in public speculation that has no factual basis," the position states.