Angel Donchev, the prosecutor, arrested on the accusation of blackmail said publicly on December 21, that he was part of a "circle of friends" together with regional prosecutor for Slivnitsa Emil Milev, in which much larger sums than the 20 000 euro with which he had been arrested, were passed around.

On December 19, Sofia City Court (SCC) ordered Donchev to be placed under house arrest, mediapool.bg said.

It was Milev who warned chief prosecutor Boris Velchev, that Donchev had demanded money from him in order to end an ongoing investigation against Milev.

Donchev was said to have demanded 20 000 euro to lobby for investigation to be ended, though it was said the the money was intended for Interior Minister Roumen Petkov.

"I don't understand why the money has become a problem. It was for personal use, for repairs of my house. With Milev we have been personal friends for 10 years. We are part of a wide circle of friends, where we exchange money for all kinds of reasons and in all kinds of ways. There have been larger and smaller sums," Donchev said.

The salary of a prosecutor at the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of Cassation, without extras, was 2250 leva, mediapool.bg said. A regional prosecutor would receive much less. By law, prosecutors were not allowed to be involved in business.

Donchev told mediapool that he "might have mentioned" the name of Petkov, but that that this was not "in a financial context", but part of a "personal relationship". He did not say what kind of personal relationship he was referring to, mediapool.bg said.

Milev announced on December 21 that he had made recordings of conversations he had with Donchev.
Donchev's defence lawyer Krasimir Penkov said that the recordings could not be entered into court as they were made with Milev's private recording device. Penkov said there were only recording from the day of the arrest, but they did not confirm Milev's version.