Prosecutors Deny Bulgaria FinMin Charged

Margarita Nemska, spokesperson of the prosecutor's office. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's prosecutors have refuted reports that charges have been raised against Finance Minister Simeon Djankov over accusations of leaking classified information.

"Minister Djankov has not been summoned either as a witness or a defendant," spokesperson Margarita Nemska said on Friday, declining to comment what she called "possible future actions".

Earlier in the day Sega daily cited insiders as saying that Minister Djankov will be charged with the leakage of classified information about the agreement between the central bank BNB and the previous Socialist-led government.

The minister has declined to comment.

According to Nemska fifteen persons have been interrogated as witnesses so far, all of whom have had access to the document.

The signal against Djankov was filed in February by the opposition Socialists, who accused him of disclosing a secret agreement between his predecessor, Plamen Oresharski and the governor of the Bulgarian Central Bank, BNB, Ivan Iskrov, to deposit part of the fiscal reserve in private banks.

Djankov made the revelation in October 2009 during a parliamentary control session to back his own proposal for a similar move.

Finance Minister Simeon Djankov is the second high-ranking Bulgarian politician, who may face charges over a leak of classified information and the second minister from the center-right government of Boyko Borisov to draw the wrath of prosecutors.

In mid-July Sergey Stanishev, Bulgaria's former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Socialist Party, was formally charged over the leak of a classified report on organized crime that shattered the country at the end of last year.

Bulgaria's former health minister Bozhidar Nanev resigned at the beginning of April after prosecutors charged him with mismanaging flu vaccine contracts.

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