Bulgaria’s chief directorate for fight against organised crime fully co-operated with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in the latter's investigation into alleged embezzlement of Sapard funds in Bulgaria, the former head of the directorate Vanio Tanov told private broadcaster bTV. The Supreme Prosecution of Cassation has been informed on the data available on businessmen Lyudmil Stoikov and Mario Nikolov, who were mentioned in OLAF report on Sapard funding irregularities in Bulgaria, Tanov said.
 
“I cannot say whether someone in Bulgaria hindered the investigation against them, because the documents on the case were handed to the prosecution in the presence of OLAF representatives,” he said. “All special surveillance means are presented as material evidence,” Tanov said.

Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds Meglena Plougchieva, comenting on the same report, told bTV: “I work only with facts and we work hard to reduce the damages and the finding we risk to lose. I have informed the Cabinet on the intricacies of the situation, about the delay of certain programmes, but it is not true that nothing had been done over the past months to resolve these problems,” she said. The Cabinet had been receiving information for the steps taken almost weekly.

Projects under all European programmes would be examined and “this is something really normal”, Plougchieva said. She also said that she was scandalised that media made the OLAF report public because “it was not meant for them, but for the investigating bodies”.

Businessman Lyudmil Stoikov, whose name was involved in the Sapard row, told Bulgarian National Television he was not guilty of anything. “The statements that I was involved […] are not true. I cannot understand what these statements are based on,” Stoikov said. The accusations against him that he used fake paperwork to defraud Sapard money were dropped because there was no evidence to back them, Stoikov said. It was a political attack against him and it was no coincidence, he added.

Stoikov said that he was not in contact with President Georgi Purvanov and did not need his protection. The OLAF report said that there was a political umbrella protecting Stoikov, a major campaign sponsor for Purvanov's re-election campaign.