Bulgaria’s former PM Borissov detained after EU probes

SOFIA (Reuters) -Bulgaria’s former prime minister and leader of the largest opposition GERB party, Boyko Borissov, was detained late on Thursday as part of a police operation linked to probes by the EU Public Prosecutor’s Office, the interior ministry said.

Former premier Borissov’s decade-long rule ended last April after an election that showed popular anger over high-level corruption in the European Union’s poorest member state.

A new centrist coalition government took office in December, pledging zero tolerance on graft.

Three other members of Borissov’s centre-right GERB party were also detained, including former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, in the operation prompted by probes of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bulgaria, the interior ministry said.

The EPPO, led by Romania’s former anti-corruption chief prosecutor Laura Kovesi, focuses on serious fraud linked to misuse of EU funds.

Kovesi, who ended a two-day visit to Bulgaria earlier on Thursday, has said her office has received a record high number of complaints from Bulgaria and has opened 120 investigations.

Dozens of GERB politicians and supporters gathered in front of Borissov’s house in Sofia’s outskirts, chanting for the resignation of new government and accusing it and the police of political repression.

“Borissov has not been charged for the time being. The police have carried out a search at his home. He has been taken to the headquarters of the national police where he most likely will be detained for 24 hours,” his lawyer Menko Menkov told reporters.

Borissov’s supporters later moved to the national police building and pledged to protest in front of the government on Friday.

A former bodyguard of late communist-era dictator Todor Zhivkov, Borissov, 62, has led the Balkan country with short breaks from 2009 until last April, his support bolstered by hefty public spending on infrastructure projects.

During massive demonstrations against graft in 2020, protesters accused Borissov of collaborating with the country’s chief prosecutor for the benefit of local oligarchs and businesses close to his party.

Two years ago, a number of Bulgarian websites published photos purporting to show Borissov’s alleged wealth, including images with a nightstand packed with gold bars and 500-euro bills.

Borissov has denied any wrongdoing and has said the photos were part of an elaborate set-up engineered by his political opponents to embarrass him.

Bulgaria, ranked as the EU’s most corrupt member state by Transparency International, is yet to jail a senior official on graft charges.

“No one is above the law,” Prime Minister Kiril Petkov posted on his Facebook page.

(Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; editing by Richard Pullin)