Top Bulgarian Socialist Threatens to Sue Tsvetanov for Libel

Bulgaria's Socialist leader Sergey Stanishev announced he will sue the former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov for defamation.

He spoke during an emergency briefing Friday in connection with Tsvetanov alerting the Prosecutor's Office that Stanishev was, allegedly, elected leader of the Party of European Socialists, PES, after paying a bribe of BGN 116 M.

The Socialist leader further called for an immediate probe in the above tipoff, saying it was a "pathetic, dirty lie."

"Tsvetanov is the most discredited politician in the country, probed for a number of crimes and abuse of power. Instead of trying to salvage the few remaining pieces of dignity by apologizing to Bulgarians and quitting politics, he continues to use obvious slander and to hide behind his MP candidate immunity. I will sue him and not only him, but everyone who took part in preparing this fake tipoff," said he.

Tsvetanov's tipoff actually stems from an investigative journalistic report linking the winning bid of Siemens Austria – Siemens Bulgaria to issue new ID documents of Bulgarians with the wife of Hannes Swoboda, representing the company at time the husband was  Deputy Chairman of PES.

According to Tsvetanov and his GERB party, the cost of the public order had been increased unnecessarily from EUR 16 M to EUR 116 M, which, along with the winning bid, purchased Stanishev's PES leadership with his nomination coming precisely from Swoboda.

Stanishev reminded Friday that the commission which selected Siemens Austria had a large number of members from different institutions over whom he had no control. He further explained that the entire process has been consulted by experts from Germany and Switzerland.

According to him, Tsvetanov has been exposed as a liar on many occasions. He asked rhetorically why Tsvetanov waited for four years to submit the tipoff and the evidence and had not done it when he acquired it after becoming Interior Minister in 2009.

"I am giving up my immunity. Tsvetanov should do the same," Stаnishev told the morning broadcast of TV 7 earlier on Friday.

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