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Bulgaria's 'super teams' against organised crime and corruption ready to work by September

Thu, Aug 20 2009 15:29 CET

byPetar Kostadinov

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Bulgaria's 'super teams' against organised crime and corruption ready to work by September

Boris Velchev, Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Tsvetlin Yovchev.
Photo: Assen Tonev

The first teams working solely on serious crimes such as organised crime and corruption will start work in September this year, Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev told an August 20 2009 news conference, Bulgarian BTA news agency said.   
 
The teams will be made up of representatives of the Prosecutor-General's Office, Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security (SANS) and will work mainly on crimes of great public interest such as organised crime and corruption, he said.
 
The teams’ main purpose will be to gather evidence which would support prosecutors’ cases in court. People on the teams will be freed from any other current obligation, Velchev said. They would also get financial stimulus for their work, he said.    
 
According to Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, there was need for a breakthrough on five or six of the currently ongoing cases of great public interest so that Bulgaria could show it was stronger than those who had undermined its position in the European Union, BTA said.
 
SANS head Tsvetlin Yovchev said that the teams’ jurisdiction was being negotiated so that institutions would avoid overlapping in their powers.
 
SANS's prerogatives will be counterintelligence, the fight against international terrorism and organised crime, as well as the fight against corruption, which was also a threat to Bulgaria’s national security, Yovchev said.

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Anonymous Mat Fri, Aug 21 2009 00:38 CET
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No prosecutions because what they claimed was perfectly legal - if immoral. And to compare it with the organised crime running wild in Bulgaria is pretty lame

Anonymous C Walledge Thu, Aug 20 2009 19:06 CET
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Good luck to the teams. In Britain recently, many MPs were found to have claimed expenses for things to which they were not entitled. Some of them repaid the money. But no prosecutions yet. Well, as long as they say "sorry", we can sweep it under the carpet!


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