Bulgaria’s Watergate
EPA/VASSIL DONEV
Published 12:56 November 26, 2015
Updated 12:56 November 26, 2015
Bulgaria’s Watergate
What has been called Bulgaria’s Watergate involves the relationship between government and the Justice system in an EU member-state. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project describes the scandal as one of nepotism and conflict of interest.
It all started with six recordings that first appeared on the BalkanLeaks platform and later disseminated in the press in February 2015. They do not describe “a scandal” but a “scandalous system.”
The six wiretaps leaked to the press feature Vladimira Yaneva, the former president of the Sofia City Court. She is talking to her former deputy, Judge Rumyana Chenalova. Yaleva’s election as a judge in 2011 was criticized in the press because she was associated with the then interior minister, Tsventan Tventanov, and the ruling party (GERB). The content of the leaks verifies that political nepotism is not unknown in Bulgaria.
Yaneva was suspended in February 2015 for allegedly issuing illegal surveillance permits against members of the opposition. That included spying on foreign embassies.
That story did not come as a surprise because in 2014, the French Ambassador in Sofia commented on a bankruptcy case of a French company Belvedere subsidiary, saying on live TV that the Bulgarian judiciary had some “bad apples”; the French company alleged that the Court was in effect handing out ownership of the business without any legal basis. The “bad apple” in that case was Yaneva’s deputy, Chenalova, that is, the second voice in the conversations. Chelanova was briefly arrested but then released.
The tapes reveal a Yaneva in panic trying to defend herself and a concerned former deputy. In the wiretaps, Yaneva says initially that “Boyko” – the Prime Minister is called Boyko Borisov – instructed the Prosecutor General, Sotir Tsatsarov, to “finish her.” Another recording reveals that Mr. Tsatsarov, the Prosecutor, met her to assure her that he is trying to cover up the whole story.
Yaneva also speaks with the Supreme Administrative Court, Georgi Kolev, who tipped Yaneva about her suspension and promised to lobby the prime minister on her behalf. She urges him to do so. She is later heard talking about her exchanging text messages with the Prime Minister himself who was trying to calm her down.
Many of the protagonists of this sotry have since denied the authenticity of the recordings, including Kolev. The Prime Minister has commented that he can’t stop women talking about him, but he refuses to comment or read the transcripts. The Prosecutor General, Tsatsarov, say that these are illegal recording and denied their content.
Yaneva has been called to testify before the Supreme Court of Justice, but she remembers nothing of these conversations and suspects were they were manipulated. So far, only the two SJC members and the Justice Minister, Hristo Ivanov, have called for a full investigation into the recordings.
A spokesperson for the European Commission has categorically denied that the Commission is calling for the stepping down of anyone involved in wiretapping case. “What matters to us is the independence of the judicial process which we monitor on a regular basis and in a structured process through the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. We will issue the next report at the beginning of next year” the spokesperson said.
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