Bulgarian Borissov questioned over money laundering allegations

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GERB leader Boyko Borissov speaks during a post-election press conference in Sofia on April 5, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/VASSIL DONEV

GERB party leader and former prime minister Boyko Borissov on Wednesday denied longstanding allegations of involvement in a money laundering scheme in Spain after chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev demanded on Tuesday that he waive his political immunity .

The prosecution claims that there is now incriminating evidence that the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, for most of the time, from 2009 to 2021, provided third parties with funds acquired through crime to buy and rent real estate in the stranger.

I haven’t had, don’t have and don’t plan to have any property in Spain, said Borissov who, since coming first in an inconclusive general election on April 2, s sided with former adversaries in ‘We Continue Change’ COE and allies in Democratic Bulgaria on plans for judicial reform, which would see Geshev ousted; his dismissal has long been sought by opponents of the GERB as a guarantee before any possible collaboration.

Under Geshev, the prosecution was so far passive in the face of allegations that revolved around Borissov, but it has now activated the institution against the head of GERB.

In recent statements, Borissov hinted at possible motives for revenge, pointing out that the prosecution had done nothing against him despite not having political immunity from 2021 to the recent elections in April.

In 2020, when the Spanish media investigated the so-called Barcelonagate case, the prosecution failed to act. The case was mentioned in the Bulgarian media as early as 2016.

On Wednesday, former Miss Bulgaria 2001 Ivayla Bakalova and former Lukoil manager Valentin Zlatev were brought as witnesses and questioned at the Sofia prosecutor’s office about the case. The prosecution slept on the case for a long time, I’m glad it woke up, Bakalova told the media.

The development is part of a dynamic change in the Bulgarian political landscape, and comes just as the GERB/United Democratic Forces and opponents of the COE/Democratic Bulgaria engage in tense negotiations over a joint cabinet to end to the Bulgarian political deadlock that has seen five general elections in two years.

The great objective of all this is for the [joint] government does not happen, Borissov commented on Wednesday, saying he had not seen Bakalova “for decades”.

Other names from the Bulgarian political scene could be mentioned in connection with the “Barcelonagate”.

In January last year, the assets of media tycoon and Movement for Rights and Freedoms MP Delyan Peevski were reviewed by the National Revenue Agency in relation to the case, but without substantive findings.

Peevsky was one of the politicians mentioned in the Pandora Papers and was named in Magnitsky’s sanctions against Bulgaria in 2021 and by the British government in 2023.

Meanwhile, Parliament’s relations with President Rumen Radev are deteriorating. Radev is seen as an obstacle to forming a stable government as it would end his string of caretaker cabinets through which he has increased his influence over the past two years.

Radev called the WCC’s current government-formation mandate a “compromise” after leaked audio sparked speculation that its leaders, Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev, are coordinating actions with the United States and the EU whom their adversaries call traitors. The president did not comment on the actions of the prosecution against Borissov.

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