Prosecutor General asked to challenge Boyko Borissov's MP immunity

The Sofia City Prosecution Office (SCPO) proposed to Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Monday to approach Parliament to lift the immunity from prosecution of B.B., a former prime minister and MP of the 49th National Assembly, the prosecution service said in a press release on Tuesday.

The only person with these initials who answers the description is GERB leader Boyko Borissov.

The proposal is promoted by pretrial proceedings popularly known as Barcelonagate, in which evidence incriminating the MP of money laundering has been collected.

The press release specified that the former prime minister provided the proceeds from crime to third parties for the purchase and renting of immovable properties abroad. 

On May 25, the GERB leader was questioned at the SCPO in the Barcelonagate case and about abuse-of-power allegations against him.

On May 22, the prosecution service said that a huge amount of documents provided by the competent authorities of foreign countries continued to be translated and that, on the basis of those documents, a forensic accounting expert examination would be ordered and a number of witnesses would be questioned.

The press release dismissed allegations that the Barcelonagate case had been shelved and insisted that such allegations seek to impede the prosecutors' work, frustrate the legally conforming progress of the pretrial proceedings, and serve "illegitimate political interests".

Approached by journalists for comment on the development, Continue the Change ci-chair Kiril Petkov said Tuesday evening: "We have always believed in genuined justice, but such justice should not be a bludgeon".

In a position of his party circulated to the media, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov called on GERB leader Boyko Borissov to waive his MP immunity.

In late 2019, the Barcelona-based El Periodico daily published an article saying that the Catalan police and the anti-corruption prosecution office in Madrid were investigating a potential involvement of Bulgarian Prime Minister Borissov in international money laundering, with Barcelona as the final destination. The investigation was launched after the Catalan police found "indications of truth" in an alert submitted by the Bulgarian civil association BOEC in March 2019. The subject of the active investigation was Borislava Yovcheva, a Bulgarian former model found to be living in a luxury house in Barcelona registered with one out of two companies that had received EUR 5 million since 2013 from natural persons outside of Spain. A potential connection between Yovcheva and Borissov was under scrutiny, El Periodico wrote. The Spanish newspaper sent an enquiry about the case to Borissov's cabinet on February 13, 2019 but did not receive a reply.

Borissov has repeatedly denied these allegations.

On May 23, GERB-UDF MP Daniel Mitov said that GERB will not second the lifting of the immunity of any member of Parliament whosoever until the completion of the judicial reform. His statement came after the SCPO asked Geshev to seek the lifting of the immunity of GERB-UDF MP and former economy minister Delyan Dobrev in connection with very serious intentional mismanagement.