Whatever happens in Bulgarian politics there is always one individual ahead of the news and ready to expose corruption, money laundering or vote buying. That person is independent MP Yane Yanev, leader of the small-scale party Order, Law and Justice (OLJ) party.  

A frequent guest on morning talk shows, Yanev is much loved by TV presenters for his readiness to pull out yet another secret investigative file on politicians, businessmen or public officials. As an MP he enjoys immunity. This has helped him to become one of the country’s most informed people and a favourite to be "fed" by the authorities whenever they need someone to throw a stone in the mud.

In a recent interview, Ivan Kostov, leader of the right-wing party in opposition, Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, said that before he would talk to Yanev about a possible coalition in the upcoming elections Yanev had to say whether he was serving as a postbox for the State Agency for National Security.

Certainly Yanev has presented SANS and the General-Prosecutor’s Office with more "proof" than any other MP regarding alleged wrongdoings. In the past couple of months alone, Yanev, together with Dimitar Abadjiev, also an independent MP, have made several trips to the General-Prosecutor’s Office to present "proof", always accompanied by video cameras.

Authorities have always reacted laconically to Yanev’s "evidence" but media coverage has endeared him to Bulgarians as an opponent of top-level corruption. Hence the DSB, one of the main right-wing parties, consider him an ally even though OLJ mostly consists of Yanev alone.

A long list of people have been targeted by Yanev. Most notable victims have  been Plamen Youroukov, former leader of the centre-right opposition party, the Union of Democratic Forces. Yanev publicly accused his companies of "wrongdoing". This led to prosecutors probing Youroukov’s property a few months before he left the leadership of the party.

Ivan Drashkov, former deputy head of SANS, was also on Yanev’s list. It was Yanev who said that Drashkov’s family was involved in property schemes in Sofia and that Drashkov was involved in treason. Drashkov is now long-gone from his post.

One of Yanev’s heavyweight "victims" is Plovdiv businessman Georgi Gergov, the owner of several hotels around Bulgaria, most notably on the Black Sea coast, and whose company controls the Plovdiv Fair. Besides his business activities, Gergov became popular in the media for having joined the senior partner in the ruling coalition, the Bulgarian Socialist Party, at the end of 2008. It did not take Yanev long to pull out something on Gergov and in December 2008, again accompanied by Abadjiev, he presented prosecutors with "proof" of Gergov’s illegal schemes. This included alleged tax fraud involving value-added tax (VAT) worth "tens of millions of leva".

For Yanev this was just the beginning. He has also been a leading player in the most recent scandal involving a public official. Five days before Maria Mourgina resigned from her post as head of the National Revenue Agency, Yanev said that prosecutors had been investigating an NRA official for siphoning off VAT reaped by criminal groups. Nor did he stop there. He promised the media more  "revelations" which, as he often claims, he received from the European Commission, although fellow politicians often call him "the authorities’ postman".