State Commission on Classified Information (SCCI) had issued about 230 refusals for access to classified information for the five years of its existence, SCCI chairperson Tsveta Markova said on October 22, as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

An applicant was denied clearance after finding out that the former had a 20-minute telephone conversation with the late Konstantin Dimitrov, also known as Samokovetsa. Dimitrov, who was allegedly one of the leaders in goods smuggling in Bulgaria and also allegedly among the main narcotics traffickers in this country, and was shot dead in Amsterdam four years ago.

The person, according to media reports, was Stilian Stanev, who tried to whitewash himself on the long conversation by saying that he dialled a wrong number, Dnevnik said. Stanev was among the candidates to become a member of the Dossier Committee but was declined when the National Security Service declared him “untrustworthy”.

Most of the refusals by the SCCI were based on violations like unauthorised use of passwords to access the online databases of state bodies, unsuitable contacts, failures to prove property status and others, said Markova.

For the period of its functioning SCCI had issued 2082 licences to people employed in classified information protection, 6158 certificates to Bulgarian citizens for access to NATO information and 2466 for access to classified data of the European Union. Twenty five companies and persons acquired industrial information security certificates.