Officers of the Anti-Corruption Commission took Sofia Deputy Mayor Nikola Barbutov away with police for questioning this afternoon. Officially, he has not yet been detained, but by the end of the day it will be clear whether he will be detained and for what, BGNES reported.
The Anti-Corruption Commission, which entered the Sofia Municipality building earlier today, is currently conducting an interrogation. Barbutov is the Deputy Mayor with the portfolio of "European Policies, International Activities and Tourism".
The Sofia City Prosecutor's Office has been notified of the case. Police vans and cars, as well as law enforcement officers, are in front of the municipality building. The police are located in front of the entrance to the building, as well as on "Paris" Street, where there are also municipal premises.
The commission's actions are a result of the data announced yesterday about pressure exerted in the Sofia municipality by the mayors of the "Mladost" and "Lyulin" districts and two municipal councilors in the Sofia Municipal Council.
Ivaylo Kukurin - mayor of "Mladost", Georgi Todorov - mayor of "Lyulin", as well as municipal councilors Dimitar Shalafov and Dragomir Ivanov announced yesterday that they are leaving "We continue the change" due to "systemic pressure to manipulate public procurement, percentages and redirect funds to the party coffers".
They stated that the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev was not involved in the corruption schemes, but a deputy mayor of the Sofia Municipality was, and they gave testimony to the investigating authorities.
"We continue the change" called on those who left to file signals with the competent authorities, and Mayor Vasil Terziev ordered a full audit of all public procurement and contracts in the two districts.
The mayor of the "Lyulin" district, Georgi Todorov, confirmed in a post on "Facebook" yesterday that he had given testimony to the Commission for Combating Corruption until late in the evening.