Sat, Jul 04 2009

BULGARIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER REFUSES TO RECALL AMBASSADOR ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN CORRUPTION SCHEME

Thu, Jun 22 2006 09:00 CET 361 Views

Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said claims that Bulgarian ambassador to Kazakhstan and former prosecutor-general Nikola Filchev should be recalled were ungrounded.

On June 21, during meeting with Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev, Kalfin said that by law recalling an ambassador was acceptable only in cases of serious violations of the recipient country's laws, mediapool.bg reported.

On June 20 Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) leader Ivan Kostov requested that President Georgi Purvanov recall Filchev as he had concealed corruption evidence implicating former prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg.

Italian prosecution already provided evidence that Saxe-Coburg offered Italian crown heri Prince Victor Emmanuel and businessman Pierpaolo Cerani participation in Bulgarian projects in exchange for electoral campaign financing.

Kostov said that Filchev had deliberately concealed corruption evidence that DSB provided. If accusations were confirmed, Filchev faces a six-year prison sentence, mediapool.bg said.

Kalfin said that since Filchev's guilt had not been proven yet, there were no grounds for his recalling.

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