There is a signal filed against the appellate prosecutor of Plovdiv by a senior police officer for pressure and unlawful actions. This was said by Minister of Justice Nikolay Naydenov in his first television interview with Ivo Nikodimov.
The signal was addressed to the Inspectorate, to the Minister of Justice, to the Prosecutor General, but it seems that the Inspectorate did not react to this signal, said Naydenov. Despite what was written in it, the Inspectorate returned it as irregular.
"If the data presented in this signal turn out to be true, this will mean at least the initiation of disciplinary proceedings, since it also contains more serious allegations - about requesting personal favors related to a person from the family of the appellate prosecutor", said Naydenov.
The minister also commented on the proposals for changes to the Judiciary Act:
"The changes proposed by "Progressive Bulgaria" are related to one of the requirements of the Constitution, concerning the presence of high moral and professional qualities. This requirement is abstract and these qualities are not subject to a numerical dimension, but still sufficiently reliable mechanisms must be created to guarantee that at least when these individuals join the SJC, during the selection procedure, they possess such qualities."
According to Nikolay Naydenov, over the past 10 years, the anti-corruption bodies in Bulgaria have been an example of inconsistent development and any vision. That is why a new anti-corruption commission with investigative functions is being created:
"We are creating a new commission, with different selection procedures that guarantee its independence, with people who, before being appointed, will be subjected to the relevant integrity tests for their loyalty and ultimately there will be a transitional period in which these functions will be carried out jointly with the bodies that have carried them out so far - on the one hand, to create capacity, on the other hand, to have mutual control."
The Minister of Justice also commented on the news about the review of the sanctions of Alexander Manolev and the sanctions under the "Magnitsky" Act due to doubts about the objectivity of the data on which the sanctions were imposed.
"Similar actions must also find a place in carrying out similar checks at the national level, so that if there is indeed such data, these individuals will be held accountable at the national level. And of course, if there is no such data, if it turns out to be false, they should receive a kind of rehabilitation of their damaged good name."