The lack of reforms in the Interior Ministry and the lack of political will for it was a major problem in Bulgaria's fight with organised crime, Petko Setov, the head of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), said in his first ever interview six months after he took the post.

The interview with Knut Pries, chief correspondent of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) bureau in Brussels, was published on June 29 2008 in Bulgarian-language dailies Trud and 24 Chassa, both owned by WAZ.

In light of the forthcoming European Commission interim report on Bulgaria's efforts in coping with organised crime and corruption, due on July 23, Sertov blamed the country's problems on the long-existing complex political situation that was the result of unscrupulous political confrontation and poor coordination between the various institutions, but mostly between the Interior Ministry and the judiciary.

“Obviously, the Interior Ministry is a highly conservative system, in which the reforms needed were not made during the period of transition from communism to democracy,” Sertov said.
 
Bulgaria has received assistance from the other European Union countries to resolve its problems. “Undoubtedly, we will cope with the problems but this requires time and support,” Sertov said. The number of crimes, according to him, has been reduced while the rate of solved crimes has gone up.

Answering a question concerning the ongoing rows about alleged EU funds abuse that have happened in Bulgaria in the last six months, Sertov said that SANS did not have any information that Bulgarian organised crime groups have targeted EU funds.

“SANS has a clear vision of how to counter the attempts of abuse, jeopardising European financial security, violating common customs regulations, money laundering and trans-border organised crime," he said.

Asked whether Bulgaria was a paradise for organised crime, Sertov said that Eastern Europe as a whole was a rather dangerous place in the years of transition. “Things have started to improve now but a lot of effort has yet to be done,” he noted.

He was also confident that there was no corruption within SANS, whose officers were subjects to frequent checks, including psychological profiling. “I know one should never say never, but there has never been a corruption case within SANS,” he said.

SANS has worked on the case with former interior minister Roumen Petkov, who was forced to resign this spring after admitting he has held meeting with businessmen under investigation. “We can investigate everyone and everything,” Sertov said without giving detail on the Petkov case.

SANS was created on January 1 2008 as Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's response to public expectations for stricter measure against organised crime. The super agency, as it was nicknamed by the media, is an unique organisation in Bulgaria's recent history. It was created by merging a number of former services: the National Security Service, the Military Counterintelligence, the Financial Intelligence Agency ad the Directorate for the Protection of Information, which allows close coordination and cooperation among the separate units.

“The National Security Service is the main pillar of the new agency. Nato experts define it as professional, highly efficient institution and trusted partner for international cooperation,” Sertov said.

A former officer from the former communist State Security secret police, Sertov was Stanishev's adviser on security before taking the job at SANS. On the first day at the office, he told the media he would avoid media appearances.