A senior minister and the head of Bulgaria’s National Investigative Service (NIS) both on compulsory leave, two deputy ministers fired and two former investigators facing allegations of corruption.

This is the story so far of one of the biggest public controversies in Bulgaria’s most recent history. The contretemps erupted only four months after Bulgaria joined the European Union and a week before Bulgaria’s first ever elections for members of the European Parliament on May 20.

On May 5, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev sent Roumen Ovcharov, Stanishev’s deputy in the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and Minister of Economy and Energy, on compulsory leave. Just two days earlier, speaking to Bulgarian National Television, Ovcharov said he had no intention of stepping down as a minister. As The Sofia Echo reported on May 4, NIS head Angel Alexandrov alleged to journalists that Ovcharov had threatened him, and had asked him to commit acts that amounted to breaking the law. Ovcharov wanted Alexandrov to find documents incriminating Hristo Lachev, executive director of the state-owned tobacco giant Bulgartabac, to get Lachev fired from his post.

At the time the row gained momentum, Stanishev was in Portugal on an official visit. The moment he returned to Bulgaria on May 4, Ovcharov offered to resign, according to the Government media office, if to do so would assist reform of the judiciary.

Stanishev declined to accept the resignation but suggested that Ovcharov go on leave. This option took effect two days later.

Stanishev, together with Ovcharov and other Cabinet ministers, was on a visit to Moscow where the Bulgarian delegation had to sign four agreements with the Russians, all in the energy field, concerning the construction of Belene nuclear power plant and the Bourgas-Alexandroupulis oil pipeline. Stanishev needed Ovcharov in Russia on May 8, and so it was decided that Ovcharov’s leave would start after the end of the Russia visit. A Cabinet statement said that the leave would continue until May 21, the day after the MEP elections. Ovcharov has been in charge of the BSP’s Sofia unit for more than 10 years and his involvement in the scandal was widely expected to damage the BSP election campaign.

On May 5, Stanishev had talks with Prosecutor-General Boris Velchev. After the meeting, Velchev told journalists that he would ask the European Commission to send a representative to Sofia to monitor the investigation into the controversy, as a means of transparency.

On May 8, the office of European Commissioner on Justice, Freedom and Security Franco Frattini confirmed receiving the letter, which was signed by Velchev and by Interior Minister Roumen Petkov. The letter said that if the EC wanted to send a representative to Sofia, they would be very much welcome to do so.

A day earlier, the UK’s Financial Times quoted an unidentified EC source as saying that Velchev’s request was a sign that Bulgaria was not doing well in dealing with corruption: “they want us to act as judges and juries”.

A sign that the Ovcharov Affair was being closely monitored by EU institutions emerged during a visit to Bulgaria by Geoffrey van Orden, an MEP who was rapporteur on Bulgaria in the days before the country’s EU accession. Van Orden, who was in Bulgaria on May 8, said that Bulgaria to him seemed like “a swamp full of alligators”.

Van Orden said: “It is obvious that this is a matter of corruption and the people involved should step down”.

Alexandrov went on leave on May 4, followed by Ovcharov on May 9.

Stanishev seemed to have decided that he wanted to be seen as acting decisively. He fired Deputy Disaster Management Minister Delyan Peevski and Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Kornelia Ninova.

On May 5, Lachev told journalists that Peevski had lobbied him for a certain person to be appointed as head of Bulgartabac’s Sofia unit. For his 27 years of age, Peevski has shown remarkable qualities. When just 21, he was appointed as a member of the political office of then transport minister Plamen Petrov in 2001. As such he became a member of the board of Port Varna. Peevski quit the board after a series of public controversies, including one that followed his written request for a luxury vehicle. Until May 2005 Peevski was one of the youngest investigators working for Alexandrov. In autumn 2005, Peevski was appointed as a deputy minister.

Ninova came into the spotlight after Alexandrov requested the Supreme Judicial Council to dismiss two investigators, Tatyana Sharlandjieva and Zoya Ivanova. Sharlandjieva allegedly had leaked information about the investigation into Valentin Dimitrov, former head of Sofia’s heating utility Toplofikatsia to “parties interested in the case,” Alexandrov said. This is when Sharlandjieva told a news conference that Alexandrov himself wanted Sharlandjieva to use her friendship with Ninova. “Alexandrov wanted Ninova to find documents incriminating Lachev,” Sharlandjieva said. Ninova told a separate news conference on April 26 that she had been under pressure from Alexandrov. This was where the other key name in the scandal beside that of Lachev appeared. Alexandrov claimed that Sharlandjieva was leaking information about Krassimir Georgiev, head of the Frontier company, who, according to Alexandrov, had been involved in the Toplofikatsia case. Alexandrov said that Sharlandjieva had met Georgiev privately in connection with the Toplofikatsia case and had leaked information to him.

On May 8, the Prosecutor-General’s Office said that they had started a pre-trial procedure against Sharlandjieva and Ninova. They are accused of obstruction of justice: that Ninova had made Sharlandjieva meet Georgiev was the main focus of investigation, the Prosecutor-General’s Office said. Because of this contact, Georgiev avoided being in contact with Dimitrov in the case. According to Alexandrov, Ovcharov was defending Georgiev. Indeed Frontier is among the major players in Bulgaria’s energy sector, enjoying good relations with the Economy Ministry. Georgiev was Ovcharov’s fellow student at university as well. On May 9, Bulgarian-language news agency Mediapool published a statement made by a lawyer on behalf of Georgiev, who was outside Bulgaria. “I will continue to fully co-operate with the investigation but I have leg surgery due and will not be able to be in Bulgaria in the next couple of weeks,” the statement said.

As the controversy continued to be a national talking point, the NSI summoned people for questioning almost every day and it seemed that new names linked to the affair emerged every few hours.

With Ovcharov’s and Alexandrov’s suspension, it seems that Velchev had been given the space to do his job. The concern shown by the EU was a key impetus for Velchev to finish the investigation.

Another key “judgment” in the case, however, was expected to be given on May 20, when voters were due to give their verdict in the MEP elections.