There are recordings from special intelligence means in the case against the mayor of Varna. This was confirmed to bTV by sources familiar with the investigation.
Material evidence will be prepared from the recordings and will be applied.
Our sources also reveal that it is not ruled out that the prosecution will request the removal of Blagomir Kotsev from the post of mayor of Varna.
We sent an inquiry to the prosecutor's office, but they have remained silent for now.
They did not comment on whether and when one of the witnesses, who subsequently retracted his testimony with a post on social networks explaining that they were taken under pressure, will be interrogated again. Today, this post does not appear on his profile.
On “This Morning“ Blagomir Kotsev's lawyer - Ina Lulcheva, stated that there is no evidence to show that the mayor of Varna asked for a bribe.
“The court accepted that although the suspicion of a crime being committed is of very low intensity, it is sufficient to justify the detention of Blagomir Kotsev. She accepted that there was no evidence that a bribe was requested, but perhaps the mayor knew that others were requesting it“, said Ina Lulcheva.
According to her, there is no new evidence to support the thesis of bribery and corruption.
According to her, it is normal for the mayor to have met with businessmen and that it is part of the work.
“At the moment when Dian Ivanov filed a request that there was pressure and that is why he gave testimony, if the prosecutor's office was interested in the objective truth and wanted to comply with the law, it should first have summoned him and questioned him. And secondly, immediately initiate an investigation into the actions of the employees of the Commission for Combating Corruption“, Ina Lulcheva also explained.