Secretary General of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry To Be Dismissed

The Secretary General of the Interior Ministry Georgi Kostov will be dismissed, reported Interim Interior Minister Plamen Uzunov.

The interim cabinet decided on Wednesday to ask President Rumen Radev to issue a decree for the dismissal of Kostov.

"In the period 2015 - 2016, enough data was collected that he has exercised pressure on former and current employees in the Interior Ministry, thus, leading to their dismissal in a way that was not in accordance with official procedures. He became the reason for political neutrality to be breached, thus hurting the interests of the Interior Ministry and of society, and damaging the prestige of the Interior Ministry," stated Uzunov.

"He claimed that the only reason for their dismissal was political pressure on him. The pressure was supposedly political without him specifying a particular political force. There are several cases in which we collected such data, 5 employees in particular," specified Uzunov.

Until a new Secretary General is appointed, the post will be occupied by Deputy Secretary General of the Interior Ministry Georgi Arabadzhiev.

The interim minister will not nominate anyone and prefers that a regular government do that.