Marin and Stefan Dimitrovi, accused of smuggling, visited not only the former Minister of the Interior Boyko Rashkov at the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also the Minister of Finance Asen Vasilev at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance. This is clear from a report provided by the MoF to the temporary parliamentary committee to investigate smuggling in customs. The answer was read at the beginning of its meeting on Tuesday by its chairman Toshko Yordanov (ITN). Last week, Vassilev claimed that he did not know Stefan Dimitrov.
According to the reference, the Dimitrovs visited Asen Vassilev at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance two or three times at the end of 2023. The two went through one of the entrances, accompanied by an expert from the minister’s political office (Lchezar Stavrev) and their entry was not recorded . The information was obtained from written explanations taken by the head of the security guards at the company that provides security services to the MoF. Last week, acting minister Lyudmila Petkova explained that the video from the cameras in the ministry was only kept for a month, and there were no records of Dimitrovi either in the visitor’s diary or in the ministry’s record-keeping system.
Deputies listened on Tuesday the chairman of DANS Plamen Tonchev. It was from the office that the development against Petya Bankova – the former head of customs, appointed by Asen Vasilev – began. According to Tonchev, DANS established only one communication between Asen Vasilev and Stefan Dimitrov, and it was for the appointment of Nedan Hadjiev as director of the Regional Directorate (OD) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Haskovo.
After the appointment in question failed, a post was subsequently sought for Hadjiev in the customs. “Literally in the last days before the implementation of the DANS, this person was being sought for a position in a high position in the Customs Agency, but no such appointment was reached”, said Tonchev. On this issue last week, Asen Vassilev explained that he proposed the appointment of Hadjiev because he contributed to a very low share of bought votes in the last local elections.
The chairman of DANS answered the deputy of PP-DB Miroslav Ivanov why the agency left the investigated smuggling channel in the customs to operate for two years. “When we collect enough data that is fit to be evidence, we proceed to implementation then”replied Tonchev.
The former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also developed his own version of the events before the deputies Peter Todorov, who was appointed to the post by the official authority of President Rumen Radev and forced to resign from the “Denkov” cabinet.
He testified that since the end of 2021, he has seen Stefan Dimitrov repeatedly in the building of the Ministry of the Interior, who in some cases entered through the transport entrance. Todorov caught him in front of the office of the then minister Boyko Rashkov, while he was waiting to enter his office. He also saw Marin Dimitrov, Stefan’s father, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Todorov claims that he saw father and son Dimitrovi in the General Directorate of the National Police under the director at the time, Vencislav Kirchev. He knew from colleagues that Stefan Dimitrov often went to the traffic police chief Tencho Tenev, as well as that he was at a banquet of the capital traffic police in Haskovo region.
Boyko Rashkov was also invited to a hearing in the parliament on Tuesday. After presenting his thesis, he surprisingly left the meeting without answering the questions of the deputies. This became an occasion for Toshko Yordanov to announce that Rashkov had “escaped”.
Subsequently, the deputies indirectly listed their questions to the former minister. One of them was to explain whether the rumors about Rashkov’s property next door to Dimitrovi, as well as the development of GDBOP “Gradinarya”, are true.
Before leaving the meeting, Rashkov explained once again that the father and son Dimitrovi, who were accused this month of smuggling, visited him several times at the ministry three years ago to give him a tip with testimony against former Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Naydenov and former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
It is about the so-called “cannibal” scandal. In 2021, from the air of “Eurocom” TV Boyko Rashkov announced that there is evidence that Boyko Borisov saved his minister from going to prison by putting pressure on a witness in a case.
About one of the listed 10 meetings at the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rashkov explained that it was on his birthday and there was no need to make a parliamentary problem out of the fact that he invited a hundred people to his celebration at the state institution.
Boyko Rashkov also said that he met with Dimitrovi also in connection with the situation surrounding the elections in Haskovo and the buying of votes. “They brought me information about the vote buyers”, said Rashkov. He also noted that Dimitrovi is accused of a crime committed from mid-2023, and he was interior minister until July 31, 2022.
Last week, the appellate court left the former head of the Customs Agency, Petya Bankova, as well as Stefan Dimitrov in permanent custody. Bankova and Dimitrov are accused of participating in a criminal smuggling group together with the former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zhivko Kotsev. On Tuesday, a request was submitted to the Sofia City Court for the detention of Marin Dimitrov, who was taken to the hospital before the first court session on the case.
The prosecutor’s office claims that the organized crime group smuggled illegal cigarettes through border and customs points. The investigators claim that the big smuggler, who has been known for two decades, also participated in the scheme Nikola Nikolov-Pascalwho was only recently declared wanted.
