The figure of the current Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) Georgi Cholakov turned out to be charged with quite informal power and influence in the judicial system, built up during the years of his mandate. We can say that it is a key position not only in the justice system, but in general.
Andrei Yankulov from the Anti-Corruption Fund commented on the extension of the term of office of the chairman of the Supreme Court in an interview with the BNR.
"Informal power is through his personality and ability to communicate well with judges and other important figures. Thus, it was formed as a special power center in the Justice System. If we observe what is happening with the Supreme Court, with the solid standing of the bench behind him and the continuation of the mandate that has expired for 7 years, we see that he has consolidated the entire court behind him.
The position is important because it is an important court in the system of state bodies in Bulgaria, which as the last instance deals with the verification of all acts of state bodies that are subject to appeal according to the order of administrative proceedings. Accordingly, the position of chairman turns out to be important," Yankulov explained.
According to him, Cholakov can continue to lead the Supreme Court for an indefinite period until another candidate is found, who must be nominated either by members of the judicial collegium or the plenary session of the SJC, or by the Minister of Justice:
"And as we see this is not happening. In the current situation, in practice Cholakov can work at least until the behind-the-scenes centers of power consolidate on another candidate. Sooner or later it will come to the election of a new composition of the SJC. This situation will not last forever."
Yankulov also commented on the investigations against senior representatives of the PP-DB coalition.
"There are no defendants from the PP-DB regarding customs, but in fact it affects the coalition. This investigation, and that after the assembly, was actually directed against the PP-DB, and logically they suffer damage from the fact that Sarafov is at the head of the prosecution. Later, we saw the same pattern in the dispersal of the DPS, and the actions against those loyal to Dogan. All this shows the picture of serious institutional dependencies at the top of the prosecutor's office," explained the representative of the Anti-Corruption Fund.
According to him, there should be control mechanisms, but specific for different institutions, because they operate differently, and for a centralized and hierarchical structure like the prosecutor's office, it is easy – you grab the tip.
"In the background of the big picture, even if the control mechanism is introduced, it will still not give results. We see this with other similar mechanisms introduced in legislation but not operating well, such as the mechanism for independent investigation of the Attorney General. Procedural changes are not the answer to anything if we do not change the way in which public power is exercised in Bulgaria. The process must begin through external public pressure and through the political system. In Bulgaria, it must be done under public pressure," Yankulov explained.
And he pointed out, shedding light on the behind-the-scenes processes means giving up power to the people who exercise it behind the scenes, "how realistic is it to expect that".