RFE/RL: Bulgarian Justice Minister Resigns Amid Real Estate Scandal

Bulgarian Justice Minister Tsetska Tsacheva has resigned following media reports that she and three other ruling center-right GERB party politicians have purchased luxury apartments at below market prices, the government's press office said.
Tsacheva has denied any wrongdoing. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov accepted Tsacheva's resignation after meeting with her early on March 23, the press office said in a statement.
Tsacheva told journalists she had asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate the terms on which she had acquired a spacious apartment in an upmarket Sofia neighborhood last year.
Her resignation comes a day after the Anti-Corruption Commission launched a probe into the properties purchased last year from the same developer.
The issue came to light after the Bulgarian section of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the nongovernmental Anti-Corruption Fund published their investigation into the property deals.
A recent series of RFE/RL reports has documented how GERB Deputy Chairman Tsvetan Tsvetanov obtained a new luxury apartment in Sofia in June 2018 from the Bulgarian construction firm Arteks in a cash-and-property-swap deal.

Tsvetanov received the new apartment from Arteks at a price that was four times lower than its actual market value, the RFE/RL reports reveal.