The Temporary Committee on Legal Affairs in the National Assembly adopted on first reading a bill for combating corruption among persons holding public positions, with 20 votes “for“, two votes “against“ (from the MRF) and no “abstentions“.
The bill was submitted by the acting Council of Ministers (CM) on April 30. Its main goal is to create an effective body to combat corruption in view of its public need and in implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), summarized dariknews.bg.
The new anti-corruption body should concentrate only those powers that directly affect the prevention and counteraction of corruption crimes. This means that it should concentrate analytical, operational and investigative potential. The current bill proposes to concentrate these functions in a new Commission for Counteracting Corruption, the Council of Ministers states in its explanatory memorandum.
The investigation will be carried out by employees of the commission, appointed to the position of “investigative inspectors“. It is envisaged that lawyers with at least five years of legal experience will be appointed to this position.
In order to guarantee the independence of the commission, it is envisaged that one of its members will be elected by the National Assembly, one will be appointed by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, one will be elected by the General Assembly of Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation, one by the General Assembly of Judges of the Supreme Administrative Court, and one by the Supreme Bar Council. It is proposed that the procedures for election and appointment be regulated at a legal level in the draft, while complying with all requirements for publicity and transparency. The committee is planned to be chaired on a rotational basis for one year, with the chairman being determined by drawing lots.
Proposal: A committee with investigative functions to fight high-level corruption
The chairman of the committee, Yanka Tyankova („Progressive Bulgaria“), indicated that the bill is being adopted in an emergency situation in order to save payments under the NPL.
Lyubomir Talev from the Council on Legislation at the Ministry of Justice explained that the postponement by the European Commission has a deadline of May 31 this year, and the deadline for publication in the „State Gazette“ is June 5. If we do not adopt the law now, the funds will have to be returned to the budget, Talev added. According to him, a one-month period is provided from the adoption of the law for conducting procedures at the discretion of the institutions.
„Our parliamentary group will support the bill. It is not new, it is 90% the same as the one we proposed and adopted in 2023, and it is an extremely important law for Bulgaria on payments and commitments under the National Development Plan“, said Raya Nazaryan from GERB-SDF.
„This law largely repeats the previous law on combating corruption, which existed for less than two and a half years and did not lead to the fight against corruption at the highest levels of power“, said Petar Petrov from “Vazrazhdane“. According to him, the bill does not guarantee political independence and avoidance of opportunities for influence. He added that the positive thing about it is the newly introduced mandatory judicial control in cases of termination of pre-trial proceedings.
„We will support the proposed bill. The texts are mostly not new, but we fully share the proposed way of forming the commission“, said Nadezhda Yordanova from „Democratic Bulgaria“. She indicated that they support the proposal to carry out an inspection of persons holding high positions.
„Bad practice does not give us reason to reject this bill and lose the funds under the NPL“, said Elena Noneva from „Progressive Bulgaria“. The bill provides for judicial control, she emphasized.
“We will certainly support the bill, last year we warned that closing the commission was a mistake“, pointed out Stoyu Stoev from “We continue the change“.