Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security (SANS) investigated Interior Minister Roumen Petkov after an earlier anti-crime probe intercepted calls referring to him as “Zapalkata” (the Cigarette Lighter), the chairperson of Parliament’s committee on internal security and public order, Mincho Spasov, told journalists on March 26 2008.

Earlier, Vanyo Tanov, the former head of the Interior Ministry's chief directorate for combating organised crime (CDCOC), appeared at a committee hearing. Tanov told the committee that CDCOC had intercepted the phone calls of people under investigation who had mentioned the name of Petkov, using the nickname “Zapalkata”.

Bulgarian-language news website mediapool quoted Spasov as saying that the CDCOC investigation had been related to drug trafficking. Spasov said that Petkov had indeed had contacts with Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov, two controversial businessmen from the southern town of Doupnitsa.

Petkov has denied having had any kind of contact with Galev and Hristov. Spasov said the committee had been informed about contacts that other Interior Ministry employees had with the “Doupnitsa businessmen” as the Bulgarian-language media often describe them.

Ivan Kostov, leader of right-wing minority opposition party the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria  (DSB), who attended the committee hearing, told Bulgarian Focus news agency that Petkov had been mentioned as “Zapalkata” in the CDCOC report revealed by Tanov. “We heard about other cases when people under investigation being warned in advance by Interior Ministry employees,” Kostov said.

Ivan Ivanov, the current deputy head of CDCOC, was arrested on March 18 2008 on charges of leaking confidential information about ongoing investigations.

DSB MP and former head of National Security Service Atanas Atanasov was quoted by Focus as saying that if 50 per cent of what was said at the committee hearing was true, Petkov should have been arrested.

“The moment that the Prosecutor-General’s office receives the transcript from the hearing, Petkov should face charges,” Atanasov said.

At a previous committee hearing, Atanasov had asked the State Agency for National Security (SANS) whether Petkov had contacts with two individuals from Doupnitsa. “They told there was no such information and today they said the opposite,” Atanasov said.

On March 25 2008, Petkov said that he had had contacts with people under investigation. Petkov said that he had done so in the interest of the ministry in order to help the investigations. He had not had the meetings on his own, but always in the company of ministry staff and he had known that his phone calls were tapped.

On March 26 2008, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told reporters there was something wrong in how the ministry worked. Stanishev said SANS had reported to him all contacts Petkov had with businessmen under investigation. “The contacts did not violate the ministry's internal procedures and the meetings were in the best public interest,” Stanishev said.