The “Anti-Corruption Fund“ (ACF) has sent a request under the APIA (Access to Public Information Act) to the Ministry of Interior regarding the “possible risk of abuse and institutional harassment against the organization“ of Ivaylo Kalushev. “In connection with media publications about the “institutional pressure“ exerted by the “Anti-Corruption Fund“ Foundation on the Ministry of Interior and other institutions, we would like to state: the search for public information is not pressure on institutions“. This is stated in the position of the ACF, sent to the media on February 18.
The signal that the institutions are checking the association of Ivaylo Kalushev was submitted to the Anti-Corruption Fund by relatives of people from the association in question, and I suspect that one of the whistleblowers is also a member of the “National Agency for Control of Protected Areas“. This was said on the air of “Good Morning, Europe“ Boyko Stankushev, director of the Anti-Corruption Fund.
The signal was very worrying that representatives of the institutions and other unidentified entities were putting pressure on this association and threatening them, including that some of them were armed. We took measures and wrote a signal, which we sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Commission for Counteracting Corruption. There is slander regarding the fact that we have put pressure on the Ministry of Interior and the institutions/ From the responses we received from the Ministry of Interior and the Sofia City Prosecutor's Office, it is clear that they consider that, under the Law on Access to Public Information, this application is absolutely valid, admissible and justified. We did not receive a response from the CPC, which is a violation of the Law. Both responses received stated that there was no information about pressure, about any activity other than normal.
Stankushev explained that the ACF had no information that a number of signals had already been submitted to the institutions against Ivaylo Kalushev's association. He threatened to file a defamation case against all those who claim that the ACF had protected Kalushev's association.
The Director of the Anti-Corruption Fund was categorical that an international investigation into the case of “Petrohan – Okolchitsa” there must be, because there are still many questions hanging around it.