Bulgarian prosecutors close probe against Constitutional Court judge
Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office said on December 17 that it has closed the investigation into whether an earlier probe against Atanas Semov, who took his oath as a Constitutional Court judge last month, had been properly closed.
The refusal to open a pre-trial investigation in 2016, following a tip-off in 2013, was “correct and in line with the law”, as there was no crime committed, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Semov, appointed to the Constitutional Court by President Roumen Radev, had been alleged to have used his position as a law professor at Sofia University to “pursue private business activities” and was alleged to have signed a deal “damaging to the university.”
After ordering the Interior Ministry to look into the allegations, in 2016 prosecutors decided not to pursue the matter further by opening a formal pre-trial investigation.
Following Semov’s appointment to the Constitutional Court, the case was brought up in an opinion piece published in a Bulgarian weekly, prompting the new inquest by the appellate prosecutor’s office.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
