site.btaActing Prosecutor General Meets Regional Development, Justice Ministers Over Infrastructure Cases

Acting Prosecutor General Vanya Stefanova held a working meeting at the Palace of Justice in Sofia with Regional Development and Public Works Minister Ivan Shishkov and Justice Minister Nikolay Naydenov, the prosecuting magistracy said on Thursday.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, Shishkov told Stefanova: "I hope that we, as institutions, and the prosecuting magistracy are on the same side – the side that protects and safeguards the public interest".

The Ministry said the meeting focused on reports submitted in March 2023 to then prosecutor general Ivan Geshev by Shishkov in his capacity as caretaker regional development minister. The reports concerned advance payments made to companies involved in the construction of the Hemus Motorway, including the illegal construction of Lot 4, as well as the Northern Speed Tangent of Sofia, the Sofia Ring Road, Sections 2 and 3 of the Trakia Motorway, and several other infrastructure projects.

The prosecuting magistracy said that during the meeting, Stefanova reaffirmed the institution's commitment to ensuring the timely and lawful completion of case files and pretrial proceedings initiated in response to allegations of irregularities in the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure projects, while strictly adhering to the principles of legality, objectivity and prosecutorial independence.

Stefanova also said that the prosecuting magistracy would fully exercise its statutory powers to pursue criminal liability against all individuals for whom sufficient evidence is gathered showing that, through their actions or omissions, they contributed to the compromise of road infrastructure, committed violations in the awarding or execution of construction contracts, or unlawfully spent or misappropriated public funds.