Bulgaria Ex Security Agency Head to Face Court over Leak Scandal

Petko Sertov is very likely to be one of the officials charged for the leak of a top secret report, though observers are sceptical that convictions will follow. Photo by BGNES

Petkov Sertov, former director of the National State Security Agency (DANS), is expected to be probed by prosecutors over missing classified reports on crime, together with former Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev.

"There will be most probably two defendants in that case," Sofia City prosecutor Nikolay Kokinov announced on Wednesday.

The case will set a precedent in Bulgarian justice practice as this will be the first time that a former prime minister and head of the secret services face the court over the same charges.

The two will be probed on allegations that eight classified reports prepared by the national security agency, and two by the Interior Ministry, and submitted to former Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev, including reports on smuggling and corruption, are missing from the agency where they should have been returned.

Former Prime Minister Stanishev will also face charges of making public a top secret report of the State National Security Agency DANS incriminating state officials with violations.

The scandalous top security report leaked at the end of October and was announced by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who said he had received it from former secret service agent Alexey Petrov, an adviser to former DANS director Petko Sertov.

According to Borisov, the report, written a year ago, was labeled as the copy sent to the prime minister. How it ended up with Petrov is unclear.

The premier said his predecessor Stanishev obtained the document last year but did not return it to the relevant department at the council of ministers and the report disappeared after that.

Under security protocols, all copies of confidential reports are to be returned to the security agency. Borisov said he has ordered experts to first determine whether the report is genuine.

If so, this will put Borisov's predecessor, Sergey Stanishev, leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, in direct violation of the law.

The new Prime Minister has urged prosecutors to charge his predecessor Sergei Stanishev and others for the leak of the report, saying it exposed the country’s inability to tame organized crime.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!