The office and the home of agency's Director General have been searched

Police officers from the State Agency for National Security (SANS) searched the office and the home of the Director General of the National Customs Agency Petya Bankova, confiscating documents and other items. After the search, Bankova was taken to the anti-corruption agency for questioning.

Bankova told reporters she did not tolerate and was doing her best to combat smuggling. “I want to stop smuggling which is affecting the entire country adversely right now,” Petya Bankova said, and added she was a “victim of the anti-corruption agency”. In her words, while she was working at SANS, she was not on good terms with the chairman Plamen Tonchev and that was the reason why she left the agency.

Bankova was appointed to the post on 20 February this year by outgoing Finance Minister Assen Vassilev. Before that she was deputy chair of the State Agency for National Security, and before that she worked for the Agency for many years.