Bulgaria Ex Interior Minister: Customs Agency Head 'Prepared' for Wiretapping

The head of the Bulgarian Customs Agency has shared certain pieces of information in his phone conversations since he has known he has been spied on, according to ex Interior Minister Rumen Petkov.

Three tapes of conversations between the Director of the Customs Agency, Gen. Vanyo Tanov and his superiors – Finance Minister, Simeon Djankov, and Deputy Finance Minister, Vladislav Goranov – were released at a news conference Wednesday by the Galeria weekly tabloid.

In one of the recorded conversations, Tanov complains to Djankov that Tsvetanov wants to appoint "his own people" at the Customs Agency, which is technically part of the Finance Ministry.

"Vanyo Tanov speaks in a very well prepared manner. His conversations with [Finanse Minister] Simeon Djankov and his Deputy Vladislav Goranov are, in fact, a way to inform Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on the course of events, since he knew his phone was tapped" Rumen Petkov stated in an interview for the Bulgarian bTV private channel Friday.

Actually, in one of the recorded conversations, between Djankov and Tanov, they both admit they suspected they were currently wiretapped.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov stated there was nothing wrong with spying on ministers, deputy prime ministers, and agencies' heads, hinting he believes the eavesdropping could have been done with special surveillance devices.

Rumen Petkov, a member of the former three-way government, resigned from his post in 2008, met with three other alleged crime bosses – Angel Hristov and Plamen Galev, aka the Galevi Brothers, and Alexey Petrov, aka the Octopus – a meeting reportedly also recorded with surveillance devices.

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