Bulgarian Security Chief to Be Heard Over Wiretaps Affair

Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS) chief Vladimir Pisanchev, Photo by BGNES

Vladimir Pisanchev, the head of Bulgarian State Agency for National Security (DANS), is to testify at a Parliamentary Committee.

He is to give his account regarding claims of intercepted calls of GERB's Sofia Municipal Councilor Orlin Aleksiev to politicians, business representatives and magistrates, Dnevnik.bg has reported.

Information of wiretapped recordings first emerged on the website factor.bg, which published an official inquiry containing lists of people whose calls with Aleksiev, but also with other people, had been intercepted, allegedly on the grounds of a drugs investigation that stirred Bulgarian society.

In mid-February, over 1400 kg of cocaine were intercepted through a joint operation of Bulgarian and French authorities.

The cocaine shipment was coming from Latin America to Europe. In the list, and among the initiators of Thursday's hearing, are ruling socialists' MPs Georgi Svilenski and Georgi Kadiev, the latter being known for his occasional dissent with actions of Bulgaria's cabinet.

Kadiev said in an interview for Bulgarian TV channel bTV that he was outraged over the inquiry, expressing suspicions that calls of his family and relatives might have also been wiretapped.

Capital newspaper reported earlier that the inquiries had been signed by security agency chief Pisanchev, short after the Interior Ministry announced results of the Bulgarian-French joint anti-drugs operation.

A total of 40 politicians, entrepreneurs and journalists were in the document. Bulgaria's Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov has asserted that his office never allowed the tapping of Aleksiev's conversations.

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