Former counter-intelligence chief Atanas Atanassov, now a member of Parliament (MP) for the opposition Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) party, accused Interior Minister Roumen Petkov of malfeasance in office and illegal surveillance of his political rivals, Focus news agency reported on March 25.

Earlier in the day, several media outlets received photos of Atanassov apparently in the middle of a cordial conversation with Vanyo Tanov, the former head of the Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime who is now a member of the opposition Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (abbreviated as GERB in Bulgarian), and TV journalist Georgi Koritarov in the lobby of a Sofia hotel.

The situation was reminiscent of the ministry's behaviour during the communist regime, when it was used as a weapon against political foes of the ruling party, Atanassov said, comparing Petkov with then interior minister Dimitur Stoyanov.

"I do not care who took the picture. The three of us are well-known to the public, two of us being politicians and the third one - a prominent journalist. We just met in a public place - in a popular restaurant," Atanassov said.

The trio were discussing details of the March 26 morning show hosted by Koritarov, which would feature the two politicians, when Interior Ministry chief secretary Valentin Ivanov appeared in the hotel, mediapool.bg reported, quoting one of the participants in the conversation, whose name was withheld. The photos sent to the press were made from the same location where Petrov was, the same source told mediapool.bg.

Petkov admitted that he has been notified of the meeting by a ministry officials, who were accidentally in the same location, and qualified the meeting as "quite despicable".

GERB and DSB are the two parties that have repeatedly criticised Petkov's performance in office, demanding his resignation on several occasions and accusing him of extending high-level protection to organised crime.