Former interior minister Roumen Petkov has been accused of applying pressure on a witness to testify against the Marinov brothers - Krassimir and Nikolai. Evelin "Brendo" Banev told Nova Televisia on October 9 2008 that Petkov wanted him to testify in the case against the Marinov brothers who are charged with conspiring to murder three people.

Banev said that Pekov had asked him to meet in a car in the Lozenets neighbourhood in central Sofia. According to Banev, Petkov had personally asked for the meeting during which Banev refused to give testimony against the brothers. "I have nothing to say about them," Banev told Nova Televisia.

"I have never met Banev and have never known him personally," Pertkov told Bulgarian news agency Focus minutes after Banev's TV appearance.

Petkov said that Banev's words were "absurd" and noted that he (Petkov) had never even met the Marinov brothers.

The case against the brothers has been ongoing since 2005 with little success. The brothers are often described in Bulgarian-language media as key figures in the country's underworld, although nothing has been proven so far.

They were arrested as part of nationwide police operation called Respect. It was the brainchild of Petkov who had just been appointed as interior minister after the July 2005 elections to Parliament.

Petkov was forced to resign in the spring of 2008 after he admitted he had had personal meetings with people under police investigation. Petkov claimed that he met the individuals in question in his capacity as a minister in the best interest of the state. After immense public pressure, however, he filed his resignation.

He was succeeded by fellow Bulgarian Socialist Party member Mihail Mikov.