2024-03-27 04:09:31
Ivayla Bakalova sought contact with Martin Bojanov – the Notary and lawyer Emil Piskov, so that Veselin Denkov would be released from custody, not them with her. This was announced by the head of the city prosecutor’s office, Iliana Kirilova, in the parliamentary commission, which is examining the activities of the lobbyist in the judiciary who was shot in January.
Asked by “24 Chasa”, Bakalova denied this information.
Martin Bojanov – Notary public was consecrated in June 2021, when the Anti-Corruption Fund broadcasted the film “Quick Checklist”. In it, Miss Bulgaria 2001 records her conversations with Bojanov and Piskov, who demand at least 100,000 euros to help free Denkov.
The two witnesses shared that Bakalova personally sought contact with Emil Piskov and then with Martin Bojanov from them. She had a conversation with Bojanov from the phone of one of the witnesses. They worsened their relationship after that because they found out that she was going to give it to the Anti-Corruption Fund. We will investigate the case. One of the recordings shows the people in whose home she was. I am talking about the case of Martin Bojanov, said prosecutor Kirilova.
According to her, this turns things around with the investigation against Bojanov. According to “24 Chasa”, the witnesses are Vetko and Marinela Arabadzhievi. However, Kirilova refused to name them. The two were also on the list of “clients” of the Notary, whose names were present in the report received by Gen. Atanas Atanasov in the parliament and distributed to the deputies. The amount of BGN 1 million was registered against their names. They are charged with tax crimes.
This is ridiculous. I could not understand what prosecutor Kirilova wanted to say. I had never heard of Martin Bojanov. From the people who introduced us, I understood what he was doing. They offered his services several times. When I realized what he was doing, I wanted to record it to expose him. He called me and then I recorded it. I played the tape of the Anti-Corruption Fund and then we decided to meet with him. Now the mediators have become witnesses because they are afraid. In 2021, no one called me to question me. Bojanov was alive. On the contrary, they wanted to file a case against me, Ivayla Bakalova tells about the events then. She also recalls parts of the film where she tells Piskov that she will not use his services, and he tells her to call him if she changes her mind. He claims that the records were not manipulated and only the faces of the hosts were deleted at their request – they were worried that the Notary would deal with them himself.
However, the prosecution has a recording of the meeting at the witnesses’ home, on which they themselves can be seen. According to Kirilova, it should be checked whether the records of the non-governmental organization have been manipulated. She appeared before the parliamentary committee today after refusing last time. She stated that she had not seen Bojanov, nor had she been to his club. She repeated her words from the testimony in the case against Pepi Euroto, that they were colleagues and that she visited the “Eight Dwarfs”, but she never influenced the cases. The former interior minister and current MP Boyko Rashkov announced that he had data in his phone that Prosecutor Kirilova had also communicated with the Notary. He refused to name the person who informed him, so that the prosecution would not fall on him. Kirilova categorically denied and repeated that with regard to Bojanov, she knew about the theft related to the case against the notary Slavi Krashevski, and that she may have interrogated his partner Velimir Atanasov in an old case related to the theft of money from a bank.
The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office is still investigating the activities of the murdered Bojanov and the group around him. It was formed in April 2023, two months before the removal of Ivan Geshev. Kirilova announced to the deputies that there was a lot of pressure not to start such an investigation. He did not specify by whom, but warned that it would become clear. There were also special intelligence agents in the investigation against the Notary before they killed him. Kirilova pointed out that there is no evidence that Bojanov and Pepi Evroto worked together.
GERB and DPS boycotted the commission, the deputies quarreled
An ugly scandal between the MPs broke out while prosecutors, SJC inspectors and an investigator waited to be heard. The deputies from GERB and DPS did not appear in the committee on the activities of the Notary.
Despite the lack of a quorum, the chairman, Nikola Minchev, started the meeting. However, Deputy Chief Hamid Hamid arrived and insisted on its termination. And he stormily left with threats to Minchev that he would demand his removal. According to Hamid, the election campaign of PP has started and the party is using the magistrates in it. After him came the other vice-president Manoil Manev from GERB, who spoke in the same spirit, and also left. On his way out, he tapped Radostin Vassilev on the shoulder, and after sharp remarks, the two got into a fight. The representatives of ITN Grozdan Karadjov and Atanas Zafirov from the BSP quarreled loudly with Minchev.
“The prosecutor’s office is in last place in terms of public trust, the National Assembly is in last place. Let’s interact”, Iliana Kirilova was outraged by the situation. Despite everything, she and her colleagues stayed to be heard.