The Eight Dwarfs, Part 3: A large envelope full of euro for Petyo “The Euro”
The “Eight Dwarfs” case about the intervention of former and current magistrates in the internal conflict between the owners of the “Izamet” group of companies continues with another scandalous story. This one also ends in the parking lot of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office (SPO). Another witness spoke in front of the camera, directly pointing to striking legal violations in the disposal of money seized and kept by the SPO.
“Has anyone given you 500,000 euros in an envelope from the Prosecutor’s Office? I guess not. No one had given it to me before, either.” This is the beginning of the story of the main witness in the third part of “The Eight Dwarfs,” Dimitar Lambovski, a businessman and Member of Parliament in the 39th National Assembly (2001-2005).
Part 3 of the investigation tells about significant violations in SPO’s disposing of a considerable amount in euros. The order for its return, as with the gold worth over BGN 4 million in Part 2, was signed by Kiril Peichinov, a prosecutor at the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office. Justification for its return was a bizarre document, a “contract for responsible safekeeping” of money, provided to the Prosecutor’s Office. In the ACF’s investigation, both parties whose names are stated in the contract, Yavor Zlatanov and Dimitar Lambovski, directly deny having concluded it. The witness said that the money, as the gold from Part 2, was returned to him only on paper. In reality, it was “collected” by the attorneys recommended by the former head of the Investigation Department of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office Petyo Petrov – “The Euro,” in the parking lot of the SPO.
The money returned by the Prosecutor’s Office was the 550 thousand EUR seized in 2019 during a search of a bank safe of Iliya Zlatanov’s wife – Julia. The investigative measures took place within the criminal proceedings initiated by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office upon the report filed by Iliya Zlatanov. The SPO acted within hours after Iliya Zlatanov, at a meeting with Petyo Petrov in the “Eight Dwarfs” restaurant, sought “assistance” in his long-standing family and legal conflict (more in Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvM9HIGnJI4&t=458s ).
The legal analysis of the prosecutor’s order on the return of the money raises very serious questions, which unfortunately once again remain without any comment from the SPO. “The statements in “The Eight Dwarfs,” give a reason for a thorough internal investigation of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, at least about its practices of disposal of material evidence of great value in this criminal case,” said the film’s legal adviser, attorney Andrey Yankulov. Yankulov is also a former prosecutor and deputy minister of justice.
The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office initiated a preliminary inspection of the statements made in the “Eight Dwarfs.” After declarations by several international journalistic organizations, the prosecutor ordered police protection for Nikolay Staykov, an investigative journalist from the ACF. Mr. Staykov had received anonymous calls with veiled death threats, and his home was a target of vandalism on June 18-19, 2020.