Why is Evidence Against Borislav Sarafov Returned to the Prosecution Which He Now Leads?

The Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation (ACF) has addressed the chairperson of the Supreme Court of Cassation concerning evidence against Borislav Sarafov that was handed back to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, of which he is currently the head. Following the early dismissal of former Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev, a barrage of mutual accusations — whether direct or indirect — started flying between high-ranking prosecutors regarding their alleged involvement in the criminal networks led by Petyo Petrov “The Euro” and Martin Bojanov  “The Notary”. Both networks for illicit influence within the judiciary have been uncovered in ACF investigations. Meanwhile, on 19 February 2024, the public prosecution’s press office published a decision by a prosecutor at the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office detailing the proceedings against Petyo Petrov initiated by the Sofia District Prosecutor’s Office on 29 May 2023. According to the decision, the proceedings were initiated upon the direct verbal order of Ivan Geshev to Nevena Zartova, then head of the Sofia District Prosecutor’s Office. She was supposed to initiate proceedings following the publication of a picture showing Petrov with Borislav Sarafov, the then Deputy Prosecutor General who is presently the acting Prosecutor General. In the course of the investigation, on 9 June 2023, a prosecutor from the Sofia District Prosecutor’s Office forwarded the case files, along with all classified materials and physical evidence, to the Supreme Court of Cassation, which is statutorily tasked with receiving reports of suspected crimes committed by the Prosecutor General and their deputies under the newly adopted mechanism for their investigation. A corresponding case file was opened at the time. With its letter to the chairperson of the Supreme Court of Cassation, the ACF is looking to establish what happened to the case file. The same ruling states that, at the request of the supervising prosecutor, the Supreme Court of Cassation has forwarded the file to the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office. This raises serious concerns about how and why the file was returned to the Prosecutor’s Office, which, under Sarafov’s leadership, was at the time reevaluating the investigation of Sarafov initiated in the final days of the former Prosecutor General’s mandate. The full text of the letter is available in Bulgarian below: