Stoiko Stoev and Ivan Dimov filed their resignations from the Supreme Judicial Council on October 15 2009, following a row surrounding allegations of traffic of influence at the country's highest judiciary body.

According to Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik, Stoev filed his resignation because he wanted to clear his name. "I haven't broken the law and the ethical rules," he said.

Dimov said he did not want to cause problems for the system and also said he did not break the law.

The row started in June, when SJC member Ivan Kolev said that a man, whom he identified as Krassyo, had been acting as a power broker in the judiciary.

According to Kolev, this Krassyo could secure a high-profile magistrate position to anyone willing to pay 200 000 euro. This was possible because Krasyo could count on the support of between eight and 13 SJC members. The council appoints magistrates.

Kolev refused to give the full name of this person going, but said that he, Kolev, had been tipped off by one candidate for a top magistrate position. At the time, SJC asked Kolev to put all his allegations in writing and send them to prosecutors for further investigation.

On October 8 2009, Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev said that the prosecutors’ investigations into Kolev’s words had shown that Krassyo, whom the media identified as 27-year-old Krassimir Georgiev, had been on the phone with at least three SJC members – Stoiko Stoev, Ivan Dimov and Plamen Stoilov.

Georgiev’s phone book had the numbers of at least 30 more magistrates "and this is a fact", Velchev said.

As a result, the SJC formed a committee to investigate whether the three members breached the council's ethical norms of conduct. Both Dimov and Stoev confirmed they knew "Krassyo", but rejected Kolev’s allegations of peddling influence and said their conscience was clear.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Judges Association asked for the resignations of the three SJC members mentioned by Velchev.

After filing his resignation on October 15, Stoev said that he made up his mind to do so a week earlier but had waited to see the comments on the issue. Stoev said he had tried to contact "Krassyo" after the row broke but could not reach him.

"Some people collect stamps while others collect phone numbers of magistrates and politicians," Stoev said and threatened to start legal proceedings against any media that linked his name to the words "corruption scandal", Dnevnik said.