Parliament Closes Anti-Corruption Commission

The National Assembly on January 28 voted to close the Anti-Corruption Commission, with its functions being transferred to the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime (GDCOC) at the Ministry of Interior and to the National Audit Office.

Activities related to corruption prevention, identification of conflicts of interest, and the establishment of discrepancies in the declared assets of persons holding public office are transferred to the National Audit Office.

Investigative powers have been transferred to General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime.

The contentious question of the Anti-Corruption Commission’s archives has also been resolved: they will be handed over to the State Agency for National Security (SANS). However, the parliamentary debate quickly shifted from legislative discussion to overtly political confrontation.

From the very beginning of the debate, the ruling parties faced criticism from “We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria” (WCC-DB), who accused them of fearing an effective anti-corruption body and choosing to abolish it rather than reform it.

Lena Borislavova – WCC-DB: “Independent justice. These are the two most frightening words for the members and leaders of GERB and MRF-New Beginning. Their entire legal, judicial, and political apparatus has been mobilised against these principles. That is why today, in the second reading, we are witnessing the rapid closure of the anti-corruption commission.”

GERB, in response, accused WCC-DB of short memory, reminding them that the anti-corruption commission had been created jointly.

Georgi Krastev – GERB-UDF: “We worked together on the anti-corruption commission legislation. Currently, your coalition partners also have a bill that ends the commission’s existence. How can you talk about justice and fairness when you organised the arrest of the leadee of the opposition?”

The nationalist party “Vazrazhdane” submitted 15 amendments across six paragraphs, all rejected by the majority. One proposal sought to require former high-ranking officials to submit asset declarations for five years after leaving office.

Petar Petrov – Vazrazhdane: “The claim that this bill from GERB will combat corruption and conflicts of interest is an oxymoron and sounds absurd. Just as the anti-corruption commission failed to identify conflicts of interest in the past two years, it is naive to think that the Audit Office will do so now, using the same staff.”

The Bulgarian Socialist Party – United Left (BSP-UL) also criticised the move, arguing that closing the anti-corruption commission and transferring its functions to two other bodies does not adequately address corruption.

Natalia Kiseleva – BSP-United Left: “The commission, which was never properly established, will now be closed. The law will be repealed, but the question remains: how is Bulgaria fighting corruption? How are conflicts of interest prevented? How do we minimise these problems in society? Closing a commission that was never functional does not answer these questions.”

WCC-DB also cautioned against assigning investigative powers on conflicts of interest to the Audit Office.

Nadezhda Iordanova – WCC-DB: “Through your actions, you are not creating conditions to counter corruption. On the contrary, you are covering up problems, creating institutional chaos, and instead of legislative solutions, you are adopting provisions that will facilitate and conceal corruption.”

Meanwhile, in the parliamentary corridors, Democratic Bulgaria warned that anti-corruption commission documents are currently being destroyed and announced plans to file a report with the police. The other parliamentary parties did not join the debate.