'Democratic Bulgaria' Seeks Information from U.S. and Prosecutor's Office Over OFAC's Claims on Alleged Bribes Paid by Businessman Bozhkov to Former PM Borisov and Former Finance Minister Goranov

Today, August 4, Democratic Bulgaria said it had sent letters to the US government, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), as well as to the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office and the State Agency for National Security (SANS).

The party said it was asking the US government whether there was any new information in the case being pursued by businessman Vasil Bozhkov in the United States, as additional facts had emerged in the proceedings.

Ivaylo Mirchev made the statement in response to OFAC’s claim that it had established that Vasil Bozhkov had paid bribes to Vladislav Goranov and Boyko Borisov, who at the time were the country’s finance minister and prime minister respectively.

Ivaylo Mirchev, DB: “We are asking OFAC whether there is anything different from what Vasil Bozhkov had alleged, and what it means that the US government has established this. This is something that actually makes a difference compared with the information we have had until now.

We are asking the Bulgarian Prosecutor’s Office whether it intends to carry out an investigation, whether the case will be reopened, whether information has already been requested from the US side, and when they intend to do all of this, so that Bulgarian society can learn the truth about this case.”

The co-chair of Democratic Bulgaria said he also expected a response from the governing parties over the matter.

Ivaylo Mirchev: “There is new information, and that is precisely why we are sending these letters—to find out whether there really is such new information.

Until now, the US government had never stated anywhere that it had established that such a bribe had been paid. It had always been based on Vasil Bozhkov’s allegations.

Obviously, there is new information and we want to understand what it is. We also expect the governing parties to respond, because the fight against the corruption model is clearly being made much more difficult, according to their point of view.

We see no action being taken, while the ‘Borisov model’ continues to exist and continues to operate and, as far as I can see, we are the only ones working on the ground.”

Democratic Bulgaria also raised another question—why sanctions had been imposed on former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, while no action had been taken against former PM Boyko Borisov, despite the US government stating that it had established that such a bribe had been paid.

The party said it hoped the United States would provide an answer to this question.

GERB: We Have Always Cooperated to Establish the Objective Truth