Bulgarian police were prioritising the fight against corruption and against information leaks to create a better business environment, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum (BBLF) on October 22 2009.

"Unfortunately there are corrupt police officers who contribute to the functioning of organised crime groups," he said, adding that the Interior Ministry needed to clean up its own back yard.

"Such police officers help organised crime groups function, even by not acting against them," Tsvetanov told the BBLF, who invited him to share views on what could be done in Bulgaria to have a more secure business environment.

Tsvetanov said that he was relying on the Interior Ministry's internal security department to deal with corrupt police, and he called for the support of business and the public to co-operate in this.

He said he was aware of certain groups of state employees, including police who formed groups to extort money from companies.

Tsvetanov gave the example of one such group, which he did not identify, that approached companies, offering to solve their problems with VAT reimbursement.

Another case of alleged corruption affected a large-scale foreign investor who had complained to Tsvetanov about a privatisation deal that had been signed in 2002.

Although the investor - who was not identified by Tsvetanov at the meeting - had already bought the land and premises included in the deal, the investment plans could not go ahead, because another company had claims on the property.

This happened after local land authorities issued property ownership documents even though the state had already sold the land to the investor. However, this document served as the basis for court action against the foreign investor.

"We have started checks into alleged corruption in the work of local authorities," Tsvetanov said.

Corruption in Bulgaria was intimately linked to organised crime, he said.

By the end of October 2009, the Ministry will present a strategy on fighting corruption, Tsvetanov said.