Ivan Geshev: When the Prosecutor's Office works, it suddenly turns out that states, governed by the rule of law are Serbia and some countries in the Middle East.

10 June 2020

Ivan Geshev: When the Prosecutor's Office works, it suddenly turns out that states, governed by the rule of law are Serbia and some countries in the Middle East

Ivan Geshev: When the Prosecutor's Office works, it suddenly turns out that states, governed by the rule of law are Serbia and some countries in the Middle East.

The state exists to impose rules on those citizens who do not follow them in the interests of the remaining over 90% of law - abiding people, commented the Prosecutor General.

"I have not read the SMS messages, but according to colleagues who have read them there is no need for a criminal law reaction in this case. My impression is that this is the following series of a never ending serial that started with the active actions of the Prosecution with regard to individuals who felt untouchable during the years of this criminal transition. There was no problem for them to drain millions and billions, causing Bulgarian citizens live in poverty and with low pensions. They did it and no one troubled them.

At that time, these individuals lived in a state governed by the rule of law, and when the Prosecutor's Office works, it suddenly turns out that not the EU states, but Serbia and some countries in the Middle East, are governed by the rule of law for example. In such a way the Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev commented for BNT on the latest public appearances of the accused gambling boss Vasil Bozhkov, who spread on the social networks screenshots from a chat between him and "Vladi Goranov", who he claims to be the Minister of Finance Vladislav Goranov.

"I see a repetition of things that have happened. The matrix is the same – let’s go back to the case of Tsvetan Vassilev, for example. It starts with some epistolary letters, writings on Facebook, the same thing. Then we move on to the fact that the next case is being used in the interests of politicians. I call this anarcho-liberal circles, they associate themselves regarding the interests”, added the Prosecutor General.

As far as the fate of football club “Levski" is concerned, he said: "Using a journalist as a carrier pigeon is innovative. According to me, this is a mockery of "Levski" and his supporters. It is obvious that this is nothing but another step in a certain protective strategy ".

The Prosecutor General also said that the Prosecutor's Office is aware of the fact against who is facing and will continue to face - "people who have been untouchable over the years and have done what they want. It is known that it will be difficult. "

In the week when the state of emergency ended, the Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev also commented on the measures during the last two months. He expressed his gratitude to doctors and police officers and underlined the importance of the work of the National Operational Headquarters. He told that politicians had behaved in the same way as they behaved in historically aspect after the Liberation. "Not me, but the Bulgarian society should first of all express gratitude to Bulgarian doctors. They risked their lives and unfortunately some of them died. We should thank the Bulgarian policemen, most of who did not return to their homes during these months, while the citizens were at home and complied with the measures. We have to be grateful to the officials of the Regional Health Inspectorates, to the civil servants, who have been in the front line as well.  The National Operational Headquarters deserves gratitude since it is good fortune for Bulgaria that it is composed of competent people. Thanks to them we occupy a good position on the basis of whole Europe. The politicians behaved in the same way like they did after the Liberation, in an identical way. But I do not want to comment them. The state exists to impose rules on those citizens who do not follow them in the interests of the remaining over 90% of law - abiding people. It is only in Bulgaria where I saw the state begging the citizens, from morning till evening, to follow the rules”, noticed Geshev.

Ivan Geshev pointed further that during the state of emergency the Prosecutor`s Office did not stop working.  “I share the opinion of Ms. Kovesi, that I  read and long before her – about 10 days ago, the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor`s Office had ordered inspection of the legality of spending EU funds and redirecting them towards sectors to combat the pandemic. We work and we take measures”, said Geshev.

The General Prosecutor has been asked to answer a question regarding the attack directed on him by the Chairman of the Supreme Cassation Court, Lozan Panov, in an interview for the website of the oligarch and defendant Ivo Prokopiev. “Obviously, Mr. Lozan Panov prepares himself for a political career, which is definitely not a career of a municipal councillor. His job is to behave in a particular way for the media when his appearance is being live broadcast. According to me, the sad thing is that he does not solve the problems of magistrates”, answered Geshev laconic.

Geshev commented on the proposal he made during the week, concerning significant increase of level of penalties for drunk drivers, drivers under the influence of drugs and drivers who have killed a person by driving with inappropriate speed. “It should be clear that we have a very serious problem. There is a war on the roads and as many people die as in military conflict. We have the highest mortality rate in EU caused by traffic accidents.  Annually, the Prosecutor's Office reports 9-10,000 cases of traffic accidents caused by drunk and drugged drivers. This is a huge potential risk for every Bulgarian citizen to be killed in the same way, Milen Tsvetkov died”, stated the Prosecutor General.

On the question regarding the personalities included in the Council of Experts, established last week, Geshev underscored: “I would not concentrate personally on any of the members of the Council of Еxperts all of them are persons of indisputable qualities and authority in the field of law enforcement.” He also assured that the fight of the state prosecution against the conventional crime will continue at the same pace as before and promised again to have the results of this engagement before the end of the year.