Ivan Lekov, deputy chairperson of the State Agency for Sport and Youth (SASY), has been arrested by the State Agency for National Security, Bulgarian-language media reported on September 23 2008.

According to Bulgarian news agency BTA, Lekov was arrested in relation to the corruption row that has been going on for weeks in Bulgarian football, with allegations flying about fixed matches and referees being forced to take softer stances towards certain football clubs.

Bulgarian-language agency Focus quoted Sofia prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov as saying that Lekov, a former international referee and member of the Bulgarian Football Union executive committee, would be charged with abuse of position.

Vessela Lecheva, SASY's head, refused to comment on the arrest, Focus said. Lekov is the highest-ranked sport official arrested so far on such allegations.

His name was linked to the corruption row on August 25 2008, when a group of former football referees told a news conference that there was alleged corruption and match-fixing by top BFU officials.

The target of former referees Momchil Vraikov, Dimitar Dimitrov and Krassimir Yossifov were Borislav Alexandrov, head of BFU's referees committee, and his deputy Ichko Lozev.
 
Vraikov, Dimitrov and Yossifov said that they had been asked by Alexandrov to fix match results, but that they had declined. They named several games whose results they knew were fixed, including last season's Beroe Stara Zagora vs Spartak Varna and Lokomotiv Sofia vs Botev Plovdiv games.

"And this is only part of what has been going on. I am certain that half of the matches in every round are fixed," Vraikov told the news conference. Another referee, Hristo Ristoskov, who was suspended by Alexandrov, claimed he had phone records proving that Alexandrov tried to influence him in refereeing a couple of matches last season, which Ristoskov declined.

This was when Lekov's name appeared in the picture. Ristoskov said in an open letter that Lekov also tried to blackmail him and offer him better positions on BFU's referee list so that Ristoskov could referee Uefa games.
Alexandrov, Lozev and Lekov have several times denied the accusations. Lekov even said that he had met Ristoskov only once and in the presence of other officials. Notwithstanding their claims, the General-Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation in Ristoskov's words and questioned the four referees.

On September 19, Alexandrov was questioned by prosecutors. He was set free on 5000 leva bail, after which he was temporarily suspended from his post by BFU president Borislav Mihailov. Again, Alexandrov denied the allegations of corruption.

Meanwhile, on September 11 the presidents of football clubs in Bulgaria decided to sign a code of ethics that was supposed to stop the pressure football referees were exposed to.