The Sofia City Court questioned the ex-wife of former investigator Petyo Petrov, nicknamed Evroto - Lyubena Pavlova. He is accused of document fraud on a particularly large scale. Lawyer Tsvetelina Tsvetkova was also questioned at today's hearing, bTV reports.
Before the court, Pavlova said that Petrov did not share with her what was happening with the case of businessman Iliya Zlatanov. According to her, Petrov almost entirely managed the restaurant "The Eight Dwarfs". She was responsible for small things.
Pavlova told the court that Petrov ordered her to separate two piles from the total amount of gold coins seized from Iliya Zlatanov's son - one of five kilograms, the other of one. According to her, all the coins weighed about 12-13 kg in total. One pile was for former Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, and the other for "someone Mitko". Pavlova later added that she knew he was a prosecutor.
She told the court that former Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev often went to the restaurant "Osemte dvujeta". She and Petrov laughed, drank together, but also talked about cases. She said she was not sure whether they talked about Zlatanov's case. According to her, Zlatanov did not know Geshev, because if he did, he would not need Petrov.
Pavlova said that Zlatanov transferred his companies to Kristiyan Hristov absolutely voluntarily. And she explained that Hristov was not Petrov's partner, but was a "jack of all trades".
After the hearing before the media, Pavlova said that she gave her first testimony in 2022 under Petrov's influence. In the Sofia District Prosecutor's Office, I testified under pressure from Geshev against Petyo Petrov, Borislav Sarafov, Emilia Rusinova, Iliyana Kirilova, against everyone. After Geshev was removed, no one from the prosecutor's office influenced me, Pavlova explained.
When we talk to him (Petrov, editor's note), these cases are not mentioned at all. We only talk about the child. He is certainly informed, but we are not commenting on it, Pavlova pointed out. She added that she is not afraid of him now, since he is not in Bulgaria and he has released all her compromising information. Pavlova also said that he had no desire for custody of their child.
Before the court, attorney Tsvetelina Tsvetkova, part of a law firm, said that Petyo Petrov went there, but not often, but he still had an office with them. He did not give me specific tasks, but I remember that he had a close relationship with attorney Magdalena Monchovska, Tsvetkova also said.
She confirmed that she knew Iliya Zlatanov. As far as I remember, his son did not allow him to visit his elevator company, which is why he had come. He wanted us to help him file a report with the prosecutor's office, Tsvetkova explained regarding Zlatanov.
The lawyer added that she also remembered gold coins that belonged to Zlatanov, and for which he had filed a request to have them returned to him, since they were included as material evidence in a case. Tsvetkova did not remember whether he received them back.
The case against investigator Petrov was initiated on July 28, 2021. According to the indictment, in the period from October 11, 2019 to March 23, 2020, by using false documents, Petrov received without legal basis, with the intention of misappropriating it, someone else's movable property – 147 coins worth a total of 106,763 leva and one gold bar weighing 1,000 grams, 23.88 carats, worth 109,718 leva, owned by Yavor Zlatanov, as well as a sum of money in the amount of 550,000 euros, with a leva equivalent of 1,085,485.65 leva, owned by Yulia Zlatanova, Yavor Zlatanov and Proletina Zlatanova.