Important documents had been removed from President Georgi Purvanov’s dossier in the former State Security archives to conceal the fact Purvanov was an agent, leader of right-wing party Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB) Ivan Kostov said.

Last week Purvanov said that one of the classified files contained information about him under the name ‘agent Gotse’ and some of his work as history consultant. The file contained no proof he had co-operated with the secret services, Novinar newspaper reported.

Dossier opening that the Interior Ministry launched recently caused controversy as files contained information on political repression during the communist era. Some public figures were listed as former agents.

Novinar newspaper quoted Kostov as saying that he came upon the information in the ‘agent Gotse’ file in 1997 but preferred to avoid revealing it as he feared public reaction.

Metodi Andreev from the dossier de-classification committee confirmed the fact about the missing files in Purvanov’s dossier. According to Andreev, when the committee had examined the file in 2001, it contained a report proving Purvanov had co-operated with State Security. That document was now missing.

The committee first found out about the Purvanov’s file, while investigating all MPs for involvement in the former State Security structures. Legal procedures had hindered the committee from making the information public, Novinar said.