Prosecutors summon Bulgarian PM over links to suspect in illegal waste import probe

By bne IntelliNews July 6, 2020

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has been summoned for interrogation by the specialised prosecution after Plamen Bobokov, a businessman suspected of being involved in illegal waste imports, revealed he had closed connections to the politician, news outlet Dnevnik reported on July 6.

Bobokov was accused, along with his brother Atanas, former deputy environment protection minister Krassimir Zhivkov and several others of being involved in illegal imports of waste from Italy.

Last week, Bobokov published a chat with Borissov in which they discussed the Libyan tanker Badr that was detained at the port of Burgas several years ago, and the participation of the Bobokov brothers, which own the Monbat lead-acid batteries company, in foreign business delegations accompanying the prime minister on visits abroad.

Apart from Borissov, the specialised prosecution has summoned two other members of the ruling Gerb party for interrogation over alleged trading of influence.

Several days before Bobokov’s decision to reveal his chats with Borissov, the prosecution published his chats with President Rumen Radev’s advisor on legal affairs Plamen Uzunov and prosecutor Nikolay Nikolov, claiming the three were under investigation for trade of influence.

The Bobokov brothers have said they were not related to the waste imports from Italy and their company is only importing scrap needed for the production of batteries.

Bobokov has accused the prosecution of not working properly but making “Bollywood productions” instead, in an interview with bTV.

Meanwhile, Borissov has admitted he had chats with the businessman, claiming there was nothing wrong with politicians communicating with businessmen.a

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