President Georgi Purvanov told reporters on March 28 2008 that he had no official information about the controversy surrounding Interior Minister Roumen Petkov's contacts with businessmen under investigation.

According to Dnevnik daily, Purvanov said he expected to receive such information within the next few days, after which he would be able to comment. Purvanov refused to comment on whether Petkov should resign in relation to the scandal, something Petkov has refused to do.

The row surroundng Petkov broke on March 24 2008, when Purvanov was on a two day visit to Israel. Talking to Bulgarian National Radio, Petkov said he has held meeting with controversial businessmen known as the Galevi brothers in their home town Doupnitsa in 2006.

Petkov said he held the meeting in the presence of a ministry employee and was not alone. He said the meeting was in the best interest of the ministry and the result of it was very important for the country ahead of its accession to the European Union on January 1 2007.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev reacted to Petkov's admission by saying the meeting did not violate the regulations of the ministry, although Petkov himself admitted Stanishev was not informed about them at the time.

On March 26 2008, Vanyo Tanov, a former head of Interior Ministry's chief directorate for combating organised crime (CDCOC) and a former subordinate of Petkov, told the Parliament's committee on internal security and public order that Petkov's name surfaced in the course of an CDCOC investigation under the name of Zapalkata (The Cigarette lighter).  

Tanov also told the committee that the person who had arranged Petkov's meeting was Alexei Petrov, who has a controversial reputation in Bulgaria after two attempts on his life in the past eight years. Petrov is a former employee of the Interior Ministry's elite special anti-terrorism unit. In the early 90s, he moved into the private sector, establishing one of the first insurance companies in the country. Those were times when insurance companies were a synonym for racketeering, extortion and grey economy.   

In response, Petkov said he was known as a man who carried up to four cigarette lighters in his pocket every day and denied knowing why he was mentioned in the conversation. Furthermore, he said that Tanov's words on Petrov were “an ugly deed by an officer”.

Petkov accused Tanov for disclosing classified information about Petrov, because everybody heard that Petrov was a secret collaborator of the ministry. “No one can guarantee Petrov's life now” Petkov said. In return Tanov denied he had described Petrov as a secret collaborator. It was Petkov who did it which in effect was “disclosure of classified information”.

The opposition has already asked Stanishev to remove Petkov from his post.