I did not know the people behind the National Agency for Control of Protected Areas (NACPA) before we signed the agreement. This was stated in "120 Minutes" on BTV by former Minister of Environment Borislav Sandov, who signed the memorandum for monitoring and control in Petrokhan with Ivaylo Kalushev's organization.
He admitted that they were a young organization, established only a month before the agreement was signed, but they had participated in various ranger initiatives at the European level.
„Such photos were presented to me, we had a total of three meetings to reach this agreement. I participated in writing this agreement so that it could not be misused by other people. All the rules related to the law have been complied with. There is also a seal. There is no need to coordinate with lawyers. But I understand why the legal department subsequently tried to break this agreement and hurt me. The Ministry of Environment and Water sent a signal to the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office about this agreement and if there was something wrong, it would have been known“, Sandov pointed out.
He specified that his successor, Minister Rositsa Karamfilova, had sent inspections to the NACPZ several times and no violations were found. According to him, this is another political attack. Sandov also said that he was called to provide information about the agreement.
„This agreement does not give another organization the right to carry out control and issue acts, because this organization was very young, but this happens in other ministries. For example, there are fishing clubs that issue acts when poaching is detected. The idea that was in this agreement - to cooperate and be able to help each other, "explained Sandov and added that the specialized equipment they had was very useful, because they also helped the Ministry of Interior.
Regarding the tragedy "Petrohan", Sandov said: "I will not go into speculation about what happened up there, but for me almost all standards for investigation by law enforcement agencies have been violated. From day one, we have been forced by the thesis that the acting chief prosecutor Borislav Sarafov and the head of the National Security Agency Denyo Denev have been trying to prove all the time. I have reason to not believe the versions."
According to him, the camper is local and he does not believe the evidence presented. According to him, an external investigation is needed.
Asked what kind of person he knows Ivaylo Kalushev as, Sandov replied: “My impressions are extremely positive because of our three meetings at the ministry and because of my three visits to “Petrohan“ – one very short and two one-day visits. Regarding the administration, Ivaylo Ivanov was the representative and I communicated with him the most. There were no mediators“.
Sandov admitted that he had not concluded such agreements with other non-governmental organizations. He ruled out the possibility that the NACPZ was a paramilitary organization. He explained that they had a desire to work in two directions - declaring new protected areas and training Bulgarian rangers.
When asked whether he saw the group behaving hierarchically or resembling a sect, Sandov replied: “I have seen an extremely respectful attitude between them. I haven't seen any signs of a sect, if it was a sect, why didn't they expand? They were a closed society, I've seen Buddhist motifs, but I didn't have any doubts. I've seen the youngest victim after them, my impression was that this was Ivaylo Kalushev's son“.
According to him, he was not friends with Kalushev's group, they only spoke professionally: “The first time I was there for a few minutes to see the site and whether it was suitable for training rangers. The second time we were caught there by changes to the Forestry Law, initiated by the DPS, and we had to urgently prevent this. The last time I saw these people was to pick blueberries.