BULGARIA’S CARETAKER PM PERSONALLY ASKED THE CHIEF SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR MINISTRY TO RESIGN

Caretaker Prime Minister Gerdzhikov said on 24th of February he personally asked the Chief Secretary of the Ministery of Interior (MoI), Georgi Kostov, to resign, but denied he pressured Kostov. Georgi Kostov says otherwise – that pressure was exercised on him by the caretaker Interior Minister and Prime Minister to release the post and therefore he alerted the Prosecutor's Office. The spokesperson of the Prosecutor's office Rumyana Arnaudova said that three senior police officials had already been interviewed in relation to the case to establish whether Kostov was forced to resign and whether there was abuse of office.

Caretaker Interior Minister Plamen Uzunov said that there was no personal motive to request the resignation of Kostov. He added that the motives were described in a report submitted to the Council of Ministers and were based on a check which was carried out to look into pressure exercised by Kostov for political reasons to former and current MoI employees.

Caretaker Prime Minister Gerdzhikov confirmed that he had asked for the resignation of Kostov, but denied putting pressure on him. He added that he believed he acted correctly in asking Kostov to resign after the caretaker Interior Minister lost trust in him and given there were serious violations by the chief secretary.

Asked by BNT reporters whether the conversation between Gerdzhikov and Kostov had been recorded, Gerdzhikov answered he had no idea. He added he would be glad if it had been recorded, because there was something there that would not be in Kostov’s favour.

On 15th of February, MoI chief Secretary Georgi Kostov referred to the Prosecutor’s Office saying that he was allegedly pressured by the caretaker interior minister to resign. Additionally, he submitted a second alert that the caretaker PM told him he lost confidence in him and asked him to voluntarily leave the post.

The Prosecutor’s office immediately initiated a check.

The spokesperson of the chief prosecutor Rumyana Arnaudova said that the check was ongoing and so far 3 MoI officials were interviewed.

Georgi Kostov was removed from the post at the request of the caretaker government through a decree by the President Roumen Radev on the grounds that he was undermining the reputation of the institution and was detrimental to the interests of the Ministry of Interior and society.