The Anti-Corruption Fund appealed to the competent institutions to exercise their legal powers in “The Eight Dwarfs” case
The Anti-Corruption Fund (ACF) has sent a detailed legal analysis of the facts revealed in the ACF’s “The Eight Dwarfs” documentary series, ending with an appeal to the competent institutions to exercise their powers over the case. ACF sent the analysis to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice, the Council of Notaries of the Notary Chamber, the Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council, and the Supreme Bar Council.
The analysis of the facts, documents, and testimonies outlined in the four parts of “The Eight Dwarfs” investigation raises reasonable suspicion of numerous crimes and violations committed by magistrates, notaries, lawyers, and police officers around a scheme of illegal influence on institutions, extortion, and unlawful business capture. Also, the identified manner of disposing of the gold and cash seized as material evidence in the total value of over BGN 5 million by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office provides serious indications that this is not an isolated case.
“The mission of the ACF is to assist the institutions in fulfilling their functions to protect and exercise the rule of law. In the analysis we are sending, we have set out all the facts of “The Eight Dwarfs” case, which are revealed not only by witness statements but also by numerous documents. We hope that this will facilitate an objective, comprehensive and complete investigation of all allegations of crimes and other violations presented in the film,” said Boyko Stankushev, director of the ACF.
The ACF addressed the competent institutions with specific appeals to exercise their constitutional and legal powers:
The Prosecutor’s Office: to conduct an independent, objective, comprehensive and complete investigation into the case; to publish all prosecutorial acts in the prosecutor’s file № 1456/2019 of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office; to exercise official control over the legality of the prosecutorial acts, as well as to verify all rulings of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office concerning the return of material evidence seized in criminal proceedings of significant value for a period of at least 5 (five) years.
The Minister of the Interior: to carry out an internal inspection of the actions of the police officers in the case, including to check the information about police protection patrol employed not only at the “Eight Dwarfs” restaurant but also in other similar cases, as well as the failure of Dupnitsa Police Department to provide assistance to citizens and private bailiffs; to carry out a comprehensive inspection of the activities of the private security company “Delta Guard.”
The Minister of Justice: to consider whether to exercise his powers to submit to the Supreme Judicial Council proposals for addressing the disciplinary responsibility of the mentioned magistrates and propose to the Council of Notaries the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the notaries concerned in the film.
The Inspectorate of the Supreme Judicial Council: to consider whether to inspect the integrity of the magistrates mentioned in the investigation for possible conflict of interests and damaging the judiciary’s prestige and whether to submit proposals for disciplinary proceedings against them.
The Supreme Bar Council: to consider whether to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the lawyers named in the investigation for damaging the profession’s prestige and dignity and violation of professional ethics and morals.
See the letters we sent here.
See the full text of the analysis here.