How many politicians and senior civil servants in Bulgaria have been convicted on corruption charges and what is happening with some forgotten investigations according to the sixth report of the Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF), commented on "Mrezhata" on the "Hristo Botev" program to BNR Boyko Stankushev, director of ACF.
"Anti-corruption institutions, 2024: A new beginning"
"It is interesting to recall that the title of our previous report for 2023 was "Anti-corruption institutions: freezing point". And now the question is, after the freezing point has already been reached, what does the new beginning mean?
Nothing or almost nothing is being done in Bulgaria, firstly, because of the reluctance of the institutions called upon to do so to look for corruption at the highest levels of power, and secondly, because an increasing number of these institutions, the prosecutor's office, the KPKONPI, which has now been divided into two, are filled by people who are literally given diplomas, i.e. they have no expertise, they have no competence. I.e. some do nothing on purpose, and others cannot do anything even if they want to, but the result is bad.
Lately I think that even if nothing changes, we are writing history. All this remains and will one day be removed by more conscientious, more worthy and nationally responsible people in the various institutions and authorities, and they will seek responsibility.
In the year we are analyzing, there were two major political upheavals. The collapse of the coalition, which included GERB and PP/DB, and the split of DPS. Then the revival occurred in the institutions and, notice, they began to persecute only those who fell from the ship, i.e. politicians who are no longer in the Assembly, mainly from PP and DB. Secondly, they started persecuting politicians and mayors who remained on Dogan's side."
The real picture of corruption at the highest levels of power remains hidden
"A black night. It remains hidden because even when criminal proceedings are conducted, they obviously do not reflect the true state of corruption in the public sector at a high level, for many, many billions. Only if we collect the billions of leaks will we understand why there is no money for healthcare, for education, for pensions, etc. Here is the moment to say that none of all the authoritative international organizations in Europe has denied anything of what they see. On the contrary, they use our data and they tell me, that's how it is, that's how it is. However, what happens next in the EC, in the EP, where Bulgaria's behavior from a corruption perspective should be monitored, no one can say.
Things are being covered up because they need us in the various formats and political families, and this is a very nasty and hypocritical game of solidarity and European harmony, that there are leaders of political parties in Bulgaria who are clearly absolute criminals."
Some of the examples
"My favorite example is the expansion of the Chiren Gas Storage Facility. What happened to this case? Obviously, at one time, the European Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva started to file signals, but this was suppressed at some point, and currently nothing is being done about this case. If her behavior is reprehensible, if she has entered into some kind of criminal symbiosis with a person like Petyo Euroto, who is obviously at the top of an organized crime group, why is no one saying anything? There are many institutions in Bulgaria that could. It's not just the two branches of the new KPKONPI or the prosecutor's office. We also have the National Security Agency, right, because this is about national security, about European security, because in the event of severe political, global upheavals in the region or in the world, who will say why we don't have enough reserves of accumulated gas in the storage? But, nothing, absolutely nothing.
Similarly, the ad hoc prosecutor Daniela Taleva, who supposedly began investigating whether or not there is any possible involvement of the currently acting chief prosecutor Borislav Sarafov in the criminal organization "Eight Dwarfs". However, we still learned nothing. They don't say that there is involvement, they don't say that there is no involvement. Nothing. And what is being done? We wait for the statute of limitations to expire in most cases."
Judicial reform
"It turns out that it was quite pointless, because the Supreme Judicial Council is still standing with an expired mandate. The same people who are the cause of the current catastrophe of the judicial system are in the Supreme Judicial Council. How can we even imagine that they will carry out any reform? The head of the former CPKONPI, divided into two, Anton Slavchev, and the entire staff there are still standing.
Can these people who should be investigated for what didn't happen because the judicial system worked poorly, and we all know that the deep state allowed parallel justice to exist, can these people still be in their places? Because they dispense justice for whatever they are paid or ordered to do, because they enjoy protection from the very top people in the state. Nothing has changed. They are designed so that nothing happens and when there is no pressure from below, there is not enough civic energy, that is how they will remain."
Political parties in our country
"At the base, in the genesis of Bulgarian parties, still, to a huge extent, including those that claim to be democratic, pro-European, Euro-Atlantic, etc., this seed of State Security is laid, because they were created in the laboratories of the Bulgarian Communist Party and State Security. They are their heirs. The only thing that interested them from 1989-1990 until now is how to preserve their economic power, the economic inviolability of their material, luxurious, beautiful world, in which, without doing anything, you can live very well. Well, of course, you have to be service personnel for someone who is not visible to the naked eye." I gave this whole example because you said that without the help of civic activism, there is no way that anything in Bulgaria can be penetrated by the citizens.
I think that one of the problems is that if it were explained to the citizens that these schemes are actually directly picking their pockets, maybe civic energy would awaken, but that doesn't happen either. Because in the end, even if you are a politician in the opposition, no one is stopping you from speaking simply so that they understand you. It is high time that these people, who we could rather recognize as democrats, change the way they speak to citizens and come out of their bubble and explain things to people in a simple way.
Our report says that there is literally a caste of politicians, magistrates, such closed communities, circles, where the centers that pull the strings in the country are actually.
The majority of these people who call themselves politicians and are visibly leaders, are not actually the ones who decide things. Things are decided by people who are intelligent, greedy, but also prepared, who have been weaving their own basket for decades and now use a large part of these politicians, magistrates and all sorts of people in the institutions.
These are not just those who we used to call "red capitalists". Are their briefcases there... There are others who have integrated with each other, taking advantage of the fact that when you accumulate a lot of money, no one asks you where it came from. You can now afford to pay for services, buy people, buy leaders, buy mayors. You can buy information, you can even buy the well-intentioned attitude of Western politicians.
I am sure that a day will come when revelations will come out about corrupt European politicians who have entered into dirty, lowly symbiotic relationships with various Bulgarians. They were literally bought, bought. It is interesting, who lied to Europe that GERB is democratic and pro-European? Who exposes to the liberals in Europe that MRF is a liberal party? These questions must begin to be answered. Because what worries me is that they uncritically, even enthusiastically, come here and support the people who are at the root of this deficit of justice, moral decay and poverty.
In this entire European construct, you can welcome something there, advise, neglect some things, but no one makes you come here to play pre-election chorus during campaigns."
Citizens in Bulgaria - a possible solution?
"Citizens must create their own structures, platforms. I watched a study by our famous professor-psychologist, who for years has been analyzing the passivity of these about 60-65%, and sometimes 70% non-voters. And it turns out that these are not at all people who are illiterate, very poor, haters, etc. Among them there are many quality people. When the question "Why don't they believe and vote" is answered, then things will start moving forward.
Many compromises are being made. The root cause of our being such a country, with such a government, with such pseudo-leaders is that the base of society does not understand what it is doing when it points out who should go up there in politics. Things, at the rate at which they are deteriorating, are very far from the turning point. I hope that at some point things will go slightly in the opposite direction, but for now there is no such trend. There is none."