Thu, Feb 09 2012

New Interior Ministry strongman

Petkov firm on restructuring of ministry

Mon, Sep 26 2005 01:00 CET

byStaff Reporter

596 Views

PRESIDENT Georgi Purvanov has appointed the former head of the National Police Service, General Major Ilia Iliev, as Interior Ministry chief secretary.


Iliev succeeds Boiko Borrisov, who after four years in the post, quit on September 16 to go into politics.


Borissov gave as his official reason for resigning his frustration at what he saw as the chief secretary's post being made redundant by the placing of political appointees in the ministry.


Interior Minister Roumen Petkov nominated Iliev for the position on September 20.


Iliev, 44, has worked for the Interior Ministry since May 1 1984. He headed the Interior Ministry regional directorate in Pleven, Petkov's native town of which Petkov formerly was mayor. After serving in the post from 2001 to 2003, Iliev was appointed head of the National Police Service by the Simeon Saxe-Coburg government, with the assent of President Purvanov.


With his appointment as Interior Ministry chief secretary, Iliev was promoted from major-general to lieutenant-general.


As Iliev's successor as the head of the National Police Service, Purvanov appointed the head of the National Service for Combating Organised Crime, (NSCOC) Major-General Valentin Petrov, a university friend of Petkov.


Purvanov issued a decree promoting Petrov to lieutenant-general. The head of the National Security Service, Major-General Ivan Chobanov, was also promoted to lieutenant-general.


"The General Directorate of Police, which is yet to be established, will be headed by General Petrov," Petkov said after announcing the nominations.


"My primary reason for nominating General Iliev for the post of chief secretary is the need to have a strong individual in this post, someone who is familiar with the work of the Interior Ministry, has the will to co-ordinate and is ready to bear responsibility," Petkov said.


Petkov said that General Iliev was coping successfully with applying a "police close to the public" strategy.


According to Petkov, the Interior Ministry chief secretary should be an established police officer. He said that the changes to the ministry were being done on a strategic basis and were not piecemeal or temporary.

  • Print
  • Send via email
  • Translate to
  • Share:

To post comments, please, Login or Register.


Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.

More in this category

Winter weather as archaeologist: Roman building found near Bulgaria's Bourgas

The discovery was made after some of the land in a complex near Bourgas was washed away by rough seas.

Weather crisis disrupts train travel in Bulgaria

No trains could cross the Danube Bridge and passengers from international trains were being taken to the city of Rousse by road transport.

Bulgaria faces further fatal freeze a day after Black Sea devastation

Hazardous weather warnings across the country on February 9, new record-low temperatures, and three people reported frozen to death in Pernik.

Bulgarian Parliament passes controversial Forestry Act amendments

Opposition parties and environmental protection NGOs argued that this and other provisions were the result of lobbyist pressure from ski resort operators.

Bulgaria, Romania suspend shipping on Danube River

Ferry-boat service between the Bulgarian and Romanian banks of the river may continue if the ferry captains decide that the weather conditions allow the safe passage of the boats.

© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.