First comment of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Kalin Stoyanov, about the investigation in the “Customs” Agency. and the change of the chief secretary in the force department, Nova TV reported.
When asked if he knows Stefan and Marin Dimitrov, he answered: “Everyone knows them”. And he added: “I know them from the ministry. Boiko Rashkov introduced absolutely everyone to them. They were quite often in the Ministry of Interior. Mostly Stefan”, explained Stoyanov, who said that in his time the two did not go to the department.
The minister explained that there is information about “parties that are organized in the home of Boyko Rashkov in a narrow circle”. “To whom tasks were assigned to each person present. Who should discredit me in what way until the rotation, so that I don't remain in the post of minister, and subsequently at these parties, after the tasks are distributed, the staffing began, he explained.
„Unfortunately, the scandal is big and, in my opinion, there will be severe negative reputational damage both to the position of Chief Secretary and to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the state in general. It will be very difficult to restore the fragile trust that citizens have in the department," the minister stressed.
Regarding what happened to the former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he said: “On April 3, Zhivko Kotsev came to me and told me that he had to go to the Anti-Corruption Commission. A little later I found out that he was in SGP and asked to contact and talk to him. We got in touch and he told me he wanted to take three days of paid leave. That's it”, explained Stoyanov.
The minister clarified that he knew that Kotsev's office was searched the same day. “The conversation with him was only in the evening, when the procedural actions were finished and when he signed an application requesting to leave the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I didn't put pressure in any way,”, he added.
According to Stoyanov, someone advised Kotsev about everything. “One is a resignation of one's own will, and the next day we all witnessed how her resignation took place,”, the Minister of Internal Affairs also said. He announced that he was interrogated at the prosecutor's office mainly about appointments that did not happen in the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Haskovo.
Regarding the fairness of the upcoming vote, Stoyanov stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not organize the elections. The department's commitment was to protect the polling stations, papers and machines. “And last but not least - to fight the serious phenomenon - buying and selling of votes. I think we will fight it out”, is his opinion.
„A perplexity for me, the people around me and for a large part of the employees is how, after six months, someone criticizes us for not doing well in the elections. Before, during and after the vote, we had no criticism from those people who are currently making it. I think we'll make it. Moreover, for the first time we heard, according to statements, that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also responsible for invalid votes. Complete absurdity," concluded Stoyanov.