After a series of scandals over the past few months, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), which is supposed to secure the system’s independence, is in the grip of what could be its biggest corruption scandal involving magistrates in Bulgaria.

The final straw was the so-called brokerage scandal that first surfaced in June when SJC member Ivan Kolev said that a man identified as Krassyo (short for Krassimir) had been acting as a broker in the judiciary. According to Kolev, Krasyo could secure a high-profile magistrate position to anyone willing to pay 200 000 euro. This was possible because Krassyo could count on the support of between eight and 13 SJC members who appoint magistrates.

Kolev refused to name the person going by the name of Krassyo and 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. Kolev’s allegations coincided with a heated debate surrounding the election of a new chairperson of Sofia City Court, one of the most important courts dealing with registering of political parties, as well as cases against public officials who enjoy immunity, such as MPs. In the light of this - and because national elections were due a few weeks later - the issue was interpreted by most SJC members as a way to apply pressure on the SJC. Hence it was dismissed, just as other accusations against SJC’s work had been rejected in the past.

The situation changed in July after the new Government took office. Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev received the full support of the executive to fight corruption and one of his deputies, Margarita Popova, was appointed Justice Minister. Popova was the first to bring the SJC issue back to the fore. In September, she issued a stern warning to SJC to stop acting passively, become more pro-active and, above all, adopt transparent policy-making when making appointments or amending laws.

Although some SJC members supported Popova’s demand, most rejected it, saying it was an attempt to influence the council’s work.

The fact that various legal organisations and the Bulgarian Judges Association also shared Popova’s warnings made little difference to SJC. On October 8, Velchev scandalised the public by saying that 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.

Instead of demanding their resignations, the SJC formed a committee to investigate if the three had breached ethical norms of conduct, because everybody is free to keep contact with anyone they want. Both Dimov and Stoev confirmed they knew "Krassyo" but rejected Kolev’s allegations of trading in influence and said their consciences were clear.

The Bulgarian Judges Association, however, took a different approach and, on October 13, asked for the three to be dismissed. Bozhidar Souknarov, head of the SJC committee checking Kolev’s allegations, agreed. "If I were in their shoes I would have filed my resignation," he said.

Stoev and Dimov resigned on October 15, but denied any wrongdoing.

Regardless of the outcome, however, the "brokerage scandal" has become SJC’s biggest crisis, one that could destroy what little trust the rest of the judiciary has left in it. As Konstantin Penchev, the much respected chairperson of the Supreme Administrative Court, said on October 8, "after ‘Krassyo’, the public will have no faith in us".