I have doubts that the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) is an independent institution. I have filed a request for Mr. Cholakov's recusal. This was stated by the deputy governor of the BNB Andrey Gyurov on Nova TV.
„I watched Hristo Ivanov's hearing about Martin Bojanov – Notary and Pepi Euroto. There was presented information about Mr. Cholakov's dependence on political entities. The distribution of the panels should be done randomly, but in this case - the panel was determined by an internal order, he was categorical.
Gyurov wants the case to be heard by an independent panel and has filed a request for Cholakov's dismissal.
He specified that the decision of the Board of the BNB was based entirely on a decree of the Commission for Combating Corruption (CPC), which, according to him, did not collect evidence and did not present facts and circumstances of committed violations.
„There are two reasons for me to worry. This is a special production that takes place within 14 days, i.e. quick procedure. In addition, it is reviewed by one court, namely YOU. This is one point of view”, Andrey Gyurov also said.
According to him, if there was talk of an independent court, he would not have any concerns.
„I resigned long before I became deputy governor. All facts and circumstances have been clarified and it is clear that I did not carry out any activity. Here we have not only a violation of Bulgarian legislation, but also a violation of European laws. In the EU, the standard of the courts has been set,”, Gyurov said.
It follows from this practice that any doubt that the court is independent must be excluded. He emphasized that the law does not prohibit owning shares in a commercial company.
Judge Georgi Cholakov is also the chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court, which hears the case. Among Gyurov's motives is the violation of the principle of random allocation of cases and doubts about the impartiality of the decision.
„It should be noted that the distribution of the case was not carried out in accordance with Article 9 of the Law on Judicial Power, but was distributed according to a special principle and it fell to the chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court,” said Andrey Gyurov.
Andrei Gyurov appealed his suspension from the BNB, the court started a case. The Supreme Administrative Court opened a case on the complaint of the suspended Deputy Governor of the BNB Andrey Gyurov.
On July 16, the Board of Directors of the BNB decided that Gyurov should stop performing the functions of deputy governor and head of the “Emission“ because of incompatibility, decided by the Anti-Corruption Commission.