Boyko Rashkov and Asen Vassilev will be questioned about the affair in customs – Bulgaria

Former finance minister Asen Vasilev and former interior minister Boyko Rashkov will be questioned at the prosecutor’s office regarding the customs affair. This was announced to BNT by the deputy city prosecutor and spokesperson of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, Desislava Petrova.

According to her, there was no deal between the former chief secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zhivko Kotsev, and the state prosecution against his testimony in the case. She reminded that Kotsev himself asked to testify after receiving information about the action at the Customs Agency.

According to the deputy city prosecutor, it is not clear how the photos from the pre-trial proceedings in the case were leaked.

“Zivko Kotsev himself requested to provide information on this occasion, after he received information that a realization would take place. The initiative was his. I don’t know his reasons for this decision. A decision to testify was made by him after consultation with a lawyer of his choice. There was no deal between Mr. Kotsev and the prosecution. He had two meetings with his lawyer. He was subsequently interrogated and recognized as the witness who stated that due to his loyal relationship with Boyko Rashkov, he communicated with the other defendants, knowing about their activities,” said Petrova.

She noted that at the time when Zhivko Kotsev was questioned as a witness in the first days of the investigation, there was not enough evidence against him. In the course of the investigation, other evidence emerged from other evidentiary sources and he was charged.

“More than 50 witnesses were questioned, more than 30 seizures and searches were carried out on the territory of the country, more interrogations are to come. Mr. Boyko Rashkov and Asen Vassilev will be summoned for questioning, this is the thesis of the supervising prosecutors. Their names are mentioned by many witnesses. The fairness, objectivity and completeness of an investigation requires that their version be heard as well,” commented Petrova.

“We are talking about a real fight against corruption at the moment. We work extremely intensively with our colleagues. Specific expectations for certain cases are imposed on the prosecutor’s office in advance. To complete specific cases in a certain way. If it strikes you, these are mostly cases that are politically interesting or convenient,” she added.

By the words her anyone can become a protected witness because witness protection implies the presence of some danger. “The assessment of whether anonymity is the most correct measure depends on the testimony that the witness wishes to testify,” she specified.

Regarding the photos leaked to the media of Zhivko Kotsev, father and son Stefan and Marin Dimitrovi, who are accused of being smugglers, and the former head of the Customs Agency, Petya Bankova, the spokesperson of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office stated: “It is difficult for me to comment on whether these are photos from the pre-trial proceedings , as they are not known to me personally. No information was leaked from the prosecutor’s office. Next to the photos – I assume that these are the photos that are in the case, since the images in them were commented on in open court and by the parties to the case.”

Petrova stated that a facial identification examination of the former Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova is pending, as she did not recognize herself in the photo with the former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Zhivko Kotsev.

“I don’t know if he will remember anything later,” added Petrova.

“Quite often, materials come out as a result of our investigations, and before they reach us and we know about their existence. Heavy things interfere with our work. I don’t know how these materials got leaked. The girlfriend of the accused Stefan Dimitrov described him to the media as an open person who likes to advertise his acquaintances. It became clear that there was a conversation between him and Mrs. Petya Bankova, in which she warned him to be more selective and not to make such a broad statement of their acquaintance,” she added.