One of the closest people to Bulgaria's Interior Minister Roumen Petkov, Secretary General of the Interior Ministry Iliya Iliev surprisingly resigned on November 28, mediapool.bg said. Valentin Petrov, Director of the National Police Service, would temporarily be appointed Secretary General.

Iliev blamed his leaving the system on health problems and said that he had once been “misled in an ugly way to sign a document for an operative combination which was, to a certain extent, at variance with the Ministry's normative documents”.

According to Mediapool sources the “operative combination” for which Iliev was “ugly misled” was in connection with the kidnapping of the son of Vilhelm Kraus, Mihail, for whom still unknown kidnappers wanted more than one million euro in ransom. Interior Ministry, however, continued to be silent on the topic, mediapool.bg reported.

Iliev said he requested that an investigation into the “operative combination” case be made.

“My dignity as a general does not allow me to remain Secretary General of the Ministry. The reason for this is that I do not want to influence the objectivity of this investigation. I am deeply convinced that it is the right decision to leave the Interior Ministry,” Iliev said.

Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said he thought it was a dignified act by a Bulgarian general who accepted responsibility when a mistake was made. Stanishev said he had a conversation with General Iliev on November 26.

Stanishev added he highly appreciated Iliev's personal decision and understood his tiredness after many years of intensive work. The Prime Minister said he was sure General Iliev's potential would not be lost for the country's security.

Stanishev expected Roumen Petkov's proposal for a new Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, mediapool.bg said.

Mediapool.bg questioned whether the reasons Iliev gave were just the occasion for the resignation and whether the real reasons for it had their roots somewhere else. Fact was, during the time Illiev was Secretary General, there have been no big public rows which involved him.

Mediapool.bg also noted that since the Interior Ministry had been led by Roumen Petkov, the figure of Secretary General had been standing in the shadow of the Police Director, who was a step lower in hierarchy. According to mediapool.bg it was another matter that in the Interior Ministry Act, to a great extent, the functions of the Secretary General and the Police Director overlapped, creating unfair competition between the two. Now, however, Valentin Petrov was expected to climb this step, mediapool.bg commented.

Iliev's resignation came right before the adoption of the State Agency “National Security” law, which was meant to introduce a fundamental reform in national security. The coordination between the State Agency for National Security and the Interior Ministry was expected to be entrusted to the Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, mediapool.bg said.