I was shocked when the information about the activities of this group and about the connection started to come out her with the top management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but I was mostly shocked by the reaction of the politicians, which for me was absolutely inexplicable – it's like we went to some parallel reality, some imaginary reality that has nothing to do with the way a democratic society should function.
This is what Tsvetlin Yovchev, former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Internal Affairs and Chairman of the National Security State Agency, told FOCUS.
He commented on the information presented to the Parliamentary Commission on corruption in the Customs and the Ministry of the Interior.
Tsvetlin Yovchev said that it is difficult for him to evaluate the shares of DANS in the "Customs" Agency. and the collected material on the actions of the former chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zhivko Kotsev.
"Because we don't have detailed information of what was collected, what the evidence is. Of course, quite understandably, the chairman of DANS is reprimanded when he shares this information, because everything he shares happens with the permission of the investigating prosecutor. So we haven't gone into detail, but from what he shared, it is clear that there was a long period of development of this group, using special intelligence (SRS), as well as information from human sources, based on which finally led to the arrest of these persons", he explained.
Was DANS obliged to inform the Prime Minister?
"Not really. All that is laid down as logic in the DANS Law is for the agency to be politically independent, neutral. And especially when it comes to this type of investigation, there is no need to notify anyone at all, especially if there is any doubt that there is a political umbrella over this group. Once again, the position of the Prime Minister (note the order - then Academician Nikolay Denkov) is strange. I have the feeling that he does not realize that in fact he was appointed to this position by the people, by the people, by the voters as a prime minister, who should follow and be guided in his activities entirely by the Constitution and the laws of the country .
It seems to me somehow that it feels like he's being cast as a self-righteous master, for whom the laws, the rules don't apply, he can break them, which is a very bad, very bad feeling. By the way, we see the same in what came out as information regarding the behavior of former minister Boyko Rashkov. What does it mean to take two businessmen to present them to the leadership of the Ministry and say that these businessmen should be helped?" said Tsvetlin Yovchev.
If, for example, this had happened a few years ago, surely this thing would have been a terrible scandal, he was categorical.