Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee adopted Prosecutor General’s activities report

Parliament’s legal affairs committee on October 14 adopted the report on the activities of the Prosecutor’s office during the first eight months of 2020.

Parliament’s legal affairs committee adopted the report on the activities of the Prosecutor’s office during the first eight months.

The Prosecutor General, Ivan Geshev, reported nearly 2,300 corruption investigations and 156 sentences for such crimes. Ivan Geshev said that the Prosecutor's office does not investigate on political grounds, but perpetrators of crimes, and stressed that for natural reasons most of the corruption investigations are at the level of government.

In the hall, 500-euro banknotes were thrown at Geshev by an activist of a non-parliamentary party who introduced himself as a journalist. The reason for this action was questions to the Prosecutor General about whether the so-called "8 dwarfs" case is being checked and investigated, what is being done about the leaked recordings, in which the voice of Prime Minister Borissov is allegedly heard, as well as whether photos of the prime minister's bedroom that leaked into the media are being investigated.

The Prosecutor General answered all these questions. It became clear that Sofia City Prosecutor's Office is checking the data for the journalistic investigation of the "8 dwarfs". In addition, Geshev ordered his deputy chief prosecutor, as well as prosecutors from the Inspectorate of the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office, to conduct an internal investigation into all the facts and circumstances surrounding the pre-trial proceedings related to this investigation.

It also became clear that Prime Minister Borissov has been questioned by the Prosecutor's office three times in all cases and photos of him that leaked in the media.

Ivan Geshev: What I know about this issue, by the way, you can see in the answer to the LIBE commission, uploaded on their website, is that there are three checks concerning what we call photographs. There is an investigation concerning audio recordings on a signal from former Minister Hristo Ivanov against his then Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, at the Specialised Prosecutor's Office concerning audio recordings. There is also there, in the Specialised Prosecutor's Office, an investigation concerning what some media call "Barcelona Gate". So these are three different cases in two different prosecutors' offices.

Ivan Geshev also stressed that after the latest changes in the Judiciary Act, the powers of the Prosecutor General are limited to him being the administrative head of the district and appellate prosecutors and not being able to influence the activities of prosecutors conducting pre-trial proceedings.

Geshev also said he had no worries that he could be investigated by any prosecutor.

The Legal Affairs Committee accepted the report of the Prosecutor’s office. It is expected to be considered in the National Assembly. If MPs accept this to be an extraordinary item on the agenda, it could happen tomorrow.