Another corruption scandal in the state. Who frames the upper echelons of power?
Adv. Lyudmil Rangelov, who defends the arrested head of the "Customs" Agency. Petya Bankova, told Bulgaria ON AIR that Bankova's association with Stefan Dimitrov on the part of Zivko Kotsev crosses real limits.
"The testimony was given by a man who was very afraid for himself and did not care how he harmed others, thinking that he was protecting himself. There are other contenders for smuggling channels. Mrs. Bankova wanted to close these smuggling channels and harmed certain interests," he explained.
"I saw the protocol when familiarizing myself with the case itself. After it became public knowledge, I am first of all shocked that it is being articulated in society. There is no dispute, this is the protocol in which Zhivko Kotsev gives these statements, regardless of the fact that he is recorded there as an anonymous witness. People who are absolutely required to have high contact hygiene simply do not maintain it. They maintain intensive contacts with people they know to be committing crimes. This is information that was given by a very scared person. Moved to the epicenter of the entire investigation and comments in the media", said the lawyer. Rangelov.
Former Minister of Internal Affairs Emanuil Yordanov commented in "Deniat ON AIR" that the proposed protocol can be nailed to the wall.
"No legal proceedings can rest on such evidence. It does not carry essential information. There is no logic in such testimony. This case is a big political fair. Boyko Borisov is trying to annoy his former coalition partners, nothing more," said the guest.
According to Yordanov, the published photos also have no value. On the basis of the photo with Angelkova, Zivko Kotsev could not be brought in as a defendant, noted Yordanov.
"If anyone, including the Attorney General, threatened the Secretary General to force him to resign, that is a crime of coercion. At this point, it is very difficult to determine exactly what happened and why. The scandal is very big, and in such a situation Kotsev should at least go on a long leave", the former head of the Ministry of the Interior believes.
According to him, the basis of this story is the elections. Yordanov suggests that there is an attempt to reduce voter turnout as much as possible.
"We are watching a pig fight that is able to disgust people. It may lead to a change in the control structure. Some people think that everything will go smoothly, but it won't be like that", says the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to Rangelov, the whole story is in a very complicated political context. According to him, there is no way to get out of the political context, which is entirely dictated by the conflicts between former and current partners.
"Both Mr. Denkov and Mr. Atanasov were misled by the information that Zhivko Kotsev probably gave them. There was no need for Mr. Sarafov to put pressure on Mr. Kotsev because he was already so compromised by the start of the operation to detain the later accused personsthat he was simply looking for an option to stay away of the two who are already in custody. On a political line, pressure was probably put on him to withdraw his resignation,", the lawyer defended his position.