Sofia City Hall to Take over Notorious 'Spartak' Swimming Pool

Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, informs the Sofia City Hall is to take over the controversial facility known as the Spartak swimming pool. Photo by BGNES

Sofia's notorious Spartak swimming pool will still be used as a sports complex, but it will be managed by the City Hall, Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, announced Monday.

Tsvetanov said the pool is in the City Hall registry as a facility and institution that must pay taxes and trash removal fees.

It was reported on Friday that Spartak is to be handed back to the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior immediately.

In May, the Ministry managed to reestablish ownership over the downtown Sofia sports complex and issued a notice on all firms operating in it to clear the facilities by July 24.

According to interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the complex was rented out and then rented again a number of times by its tenants since the early 1990s.

The facility had been, for a long time, associated with alleged ringleader Aleksei Petrov, who was arrested in February in a special police operation codenamed “Octopus.”

“Spartak” is notorious for being the place where ex Interior Minister, Rumen Petkov, met with two other alleged crime bosses – Angel Hristov and Plamen Galev, aka the Galevi Brothers. The affair led to Petkov’s resignation. Aleksei Petrov became a target of a failed attack on his life at the same location.

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