Four former Bulgarian Members of Parliament were exposed Wednesday to have been in contact with notorious “businessman” Krasimir Georgiev, aka “Krasio the Black”.
This was made public by Yane Yanev, Chair of the Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Committee, who said three MPs from the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and one from the Bulgarian Socialist Party had made calls and exchanged SMS Text messages with Krasio. Some of the messages contained directions for 'lobbying' on some issues.
The Krasio affair started after in October it became clear that ‘Krasio’ was a ‘piggy bank’ who is alleged tot have offered magistrates to secure their appointment to high ranking positions through the vote of the Supreme Judicial Council in exchange for EUR 200 000 in cash.
The scandal has so far triggered heated arguments and several resignations after the Chief Prosecutor earlier revealed the names of 13 magistrates and prosecutors, whose phone logs showed they had been in touch with Georgiev. Later, the Judicial Council announced that a total of 31 magistrates had been in contact with Krasio.
According to the data presented by Yanev Wednesday, the MPs in contact with Krasio in 2008 and 2009 are Erdoan Ahmedov, Kasim Dal, and Lyutvi Mestan from the DPS (Mestan is the Deputy Chair of the party), and Kiril Dobrev from the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
The data came from an inspection of the phone address book of Krasio’s mobile phone requested by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
The last names of magistrates who were in contact with Krasimir Georgiev are to be announced on Thursday, November 19, during the meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Dimitar Ivanovski, a former Deputy Minister of Finance in the Stanishev government who was in charge of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, i.e. in charge of EU funds absorption, and officials from the Presidency are also among the contacts in Krasio’s address book.
According to Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Valeri Parvanov, a total of 1 040 number were found in Krasio’s address book. Most of them belong to various firms. There are also some numbers that are recorded without any names.
Yanev said he had demanded a number-by-number inspection of the address book including of key figures from the “gray economy” such as “Zhoro the Head”, “Zhoro Insa” (Georgi Samuilov), or Ivan Sapard Kasim, whose names were found in the phone book. But in Yanev’s words, the rest of the Committee has rejected his motion.
This was made public by Yane Yanev, Chair of the Parliamentary Anti-Corruption Committee, who said three MPs from the ethnic Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and one from the Bulgarian Socialist Party had made calls and exchanged SMS Text messages with Krasio. Some of the messages contained directions for 'lobbying' on some issues.
The Krasio affair started after in October it became clear that ‘Krasio’ was a ‘piggy bank’ who is alleged tot have offered magistrates to secure their appointment to high ranking positions through the vote of the Supreme Judicial Council in exchange for EUR 200 000 in cash.
The scandal has so far triggered heated arguments and several resignations after the Chief Prosecutor earlier revealed the names of 13 magistrates and prosecutors, whose phone logs showed they had been in touch with Georgiev. Later, the Judicial Council announced that a total of 31 magistrates had been in contact with Krasio.
According to the data presented by Yanev Wednesday, the MPs in contact with Krasio in 2008 and 2009 are Erdoan Ahmedov, Kasim Dal, and Lyutvi Mestan from the DPS (Mestan is the Deputy Chair of the party), and Kiril Dobrev from the Bulgarian Socialist Party.
The data came from an inspection of the phone address book of Krasio’s mobile phone requested by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
The last names of magistrates who were in contact with Krasimir Georgiev are to be announced on Thursday, November 19, during the meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council.
Dimitar Ivanovski, a former Deputy Minister of Finance in the Stanishev government who was in charge of the Central Finance and Contracts Unit, i.e. in charge of EU funds absorption, and officials from the Presidency are also among the contacts in Krasio’s address book.
According to Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Valeri Parvanov, a total of 1 040 number were found in Krasio’s address book. Most of them belong to various firms. There are also some numbers that are recorded without any names.
Yanev said he had demanded a number-by-number inspection of the address book including of key figures from the “gray economy” such as “Zhoro the Head”, “Zhoro Insa” (Georgi Samuilov), or Ivan Sapard Kasim, whose names were found in the phone book. But in Yanev’s words, the rest of the Committee has rejected his motion.
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