Delyan Peevski

European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi arrives in Bulgaria on Thursday (10 June) for her first mission abroad since the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) was launched at the start of the month. The visit is rather surprising, because no program has been announced.

With a few days to go before the official campaigning period ahead of Bulgaria's July 11 early parliamentary elections, Boyko Borissov's GERB-UDF electoral coalition has 20.3 per cent of support among those who intend to vote, with Slavi Trifonov's ITN party close behind at 18.2 per cent, according to the results of a poll released by Alpha Research on June 9.

The US sanctions under the Magnitsky Act imposed on six Bulgarians, including Delyan Peevski and Vasil Bozhkov, will have an impact on European policy approach to Bulgaria. This is what MEP Radan Kanev ("Democratic Bulgaria"/EPP) says in an interview with the toest.bg website.

The Prosecutor's Office announced today that it is launching an investigation into the information disclosed by the State Department of the United States on corruption activities involving Vasil Bozhkov, Delyan Peevski, Ilko Zheliazkov, Alexander Manolev, Petar Haralampiev and Krasimir Tomov.

Bulgarian media mogul and MP from the centrist Movement for Rights and Freedoms, Delyan Peevski, during a meeting at parliament in Sofia, May 2013. Photo: EPA/STR.

The first man named is oligarch-in-exile, art dealer and former football and gambling boss Vassil Bojkov, alias The Skull, who fled the country to Dubai in January 2020 amid numerous charges.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) issued a statement this morning responding to yesterday's news concerning the sanctions against its member and longtime MP Delyan Peevski imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department.

Many more people came tonight to another protest in front of the Sofia Court House demanding the resignation of Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev.

This time politicians also appeared - Hristo Ivanov and Atanas Atanasov from "Democratic Bulgaria", the caretaker Minister of Culture Prof. Velislav Minekov, Maya Manolova from "Stand up! Thugs out!"

Caretaker Minister of Economy Kiril Petkov removed from office members of the current Supervisory Board of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), Dimitar Simeonov and Velina Burska. The proposed replacements are Vasil Shtonov and Valentin Mihov.

"I'm planning to return to Bulgaria during or after the early parliamentary elections on July 11," announced former gambling boss Vasil Bozhkov in an online interview for the "The Alternative" talk show.

The Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), which by law has to support small businesses, has granted loans worth of BGN 946 only to eight private companies. Four of them may be indirectly related to Delyan Peevski, announced in his first television interview caretaker Minister of Economy Kiril Petkov.