Head of Bulgaria’s Anticorruption Commission resigns
The Chairman of the Counter Corruption and Unlawfully Acquired Assets Forfeiture Commission Sotir Tsatsarov has handed in his resignation, effective as of March 1. He has submitted his resignation before the National Assembly on Monday morning. The head of the Anti-corruption Commission is expected to present a report on the work of the institution in 2021.
At the end of last week, it became clear that he was deprived of access to classified information. According to Premier Kiril Petkov, the permit was revoked in the course of reliability control after data obtained from the State Agency for National Security. According to Sotir Tsatsarov, this happened after sustained institutional pressure by Premier Kiril Petkov and this country’s Minister of Interior Boyko Rashkov. At the moment, it is not clear whether Tsatsarov can perform his duties until March 1 without having an access to classified information.
The chairman of the anti-corruption commission Sotir Tsatsarov has asked the prosecutor’s office to launch a probe into his activities, referring the matter to Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev. This comes in response to a statement made by Prime Minister Kiril Petkov who stated that after the decision to deprive Tsatsarov of access to classified information, the State Agency for National Security must decide whether there exist sufficient grounds to refer the matter to the prosecutor’s office.