Threats Against Bulgarian EPPO Prosecutor Teodora Georgieva Prompt Security Request

Laura Kovesi has urgently requested security for Teodora Georgieva, Bulgaria’s representative in the College of Prosecutors at the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The request was made to the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior due to a serious threat against Georgieva and her family, reports Bulgarian media Club Z, according to information obtained from two independent sources.

The Ministry of Interior has not provided details on the matter, stating only that it does not comment on protected persons or security requests. Georgieva herself has also refrained from making any statements regarding the situation.

Georgieva has been the subject of various media attacks over the years, particularly from outlets linked to political circles around Delyan Peevski’s Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and Boyko Borissov’s GERB party. These attacks intensified in October 2023, when a document surfaced, allegedly filed with both the EPPO and Bulgaria’s Prosecutor’s Office by former investigator Petyo Petrov, known as "Pepi Evroto" (Pepi the Euro). The document claimed that Petrov had personally provided Georgieva with monthly payments of 10,000 leva in exchange for influencing pre-trial proceedings, with some of these alleged meetings taking place at the well-known restaurant "Osemte dzudzheta" (The Eight Dwarfs).

At the time, Georgieva dismissed the allegations as a deliberate attempt to discredit her, stating that she had been warned such accusations would be fabricated. She accused former Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev and his associates of orchestrating the smear campaign and cast doubt on the authenticity of the claims attributed to Petrov. She pointed out that Petrov’s whereabouts were unknown and questioned how an official complaint could be linked to him under such circumstances.

Petrov, who had vanished months before the allegations surfaced, has been associated with influential figures in Bulgarian politics. Former banker Tsvetan Vassilev, once a business partner of Delyan Peevski, has claimed that Petrov was closely linked to Peevski, describing him as someone capable of fabricating accusations in exchange for alcohol.

As Bulgaria’s representative at the EPPO in Luxembourg, Georgieva oversees cases related to EU financial fraud. However, investigations into large-scale corruption in Bulgaria have faced obstacles, partly due to the office’s limited powers. The EPPO relies on so-called "delegated prosecutors" to handle cases within Bulgaria, but expectations for significant breakthroughs in high-level corruption cases remain unfulfilled.