New photos of guns and cash in Bulgarian ex-PM Borissov’s bedroom published days before election

New photos of guns and cash in Bulgarian ex-PM Borissov’s bedroom published days before election
By Denitsa Koseva in Sofia November 9, 2021

New photos sent to local media on November 9 showed Bulgaria’s former prime minister Boyko Borissov sleeping in a state residence with a significant sum in euro banknotes in the drawer next to his bed and a handgun on top of his bedside table. 

The photos were distributed just days ahead of the November 14 snap general election. Borissov’s Gerb party, which ruled the country for 12 years, is set to win the election but with less than a quarter of all votes and would have a hard time finding coalition partners for a fourth mandate.

The photos were sent by an anonymous sender to the Euro Dikoff talk show with an email saying the move was provoked by the lack of activity by the prosecution since the first set of gangster-style photos were distributed in June 2020, when Borissov was still in power.

Back then, local media received anonymous photographs of Borissov sleeping in his bedroom next to a Glock 9mm handgun and a drawer full of €500 bills and gold bars. The former prime minister confirmed their authenticity, saying they were taken in the residence he was using as premier.

Since then Bulgaria’s caretaker government has launched numerous probes into corruption under Borrisov’s former administration. The interim government also launched a wide-reaching overhaul of the state administration and institutions, but this put it into open conflict with the prosecution, headed by Ivan Geshev, who was appointed through a controversial procedure while  Borissov’s Gerb party was in power. 

“We waited for more than a year to see if anyone in the prosecutor’s office would check how and why a Bulgarian prime minister has organised robberies in all economic sectors, orgies at a government residence, hid bundles and gold in his bedroom (also seized from highway construction) and sleeps with a gun to his head – the zero result is known to all, so today we are organising a “Day of Reflection before the Day of Reflection” – because if we do not show him on Sunday that his place is out of power and in prison, there may be no next chance,” the sender of the photos wrote in his letter to Euro Dikoff.

Analysis carried out by investigative news portal Bird.bg showed the photos were taken in mid-July, 2018, on May 8, 2020 and June 11, 2017. Two of the photos lacked metadata providing information on the date they were taken, Bird.bg wrote on Facebook.

“Evening financial news. According to financial analysts the most secure place for your money at the moment is the drawer of Borissov, because it is being guarded personally by the prosecution. You want to keep your money there? Congratulations, you already are,” PR expert Radoslav Bimbalov commented on Facebook.

In 2020, the original photos of Borissov sleeping next to the cash and the gun were distributed amid mass anti-government protests. At the time, they seriously shook Borissov and his government but the prime minister refused to resign. The protests were marked by police violence and arrests of dozens of people.

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