Bulgaria Deputy Sports Minister second to resign over apartments controversy
A few hours after Tsetska Tsacheva resigned as Bulgaria’s Justice Minister over a controversy over acquiring an apartment at allegedly below-market price, another politician named in the controversy, Deputy Sports Minister Vanya Koleva, also quit her post.
Koleva was stepping down at the request of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borissov, the Ministry of Sport said on the afternoon of March 23.
Tsacheva, Koleva, Tsvetan Tsvetanov – the parliamentary leader of Borissov’s GERB party, and Vezhdi Rashidov, head of a parliamentary committee, are the four politician under investigation over the purchase of apartments from the same company.
All four have denied wrongdoing in the matter, which the Prosecutor’s Office announced on March 22 was to be investigated by Bulgaria’s anti-corruption commission.
Reports said that Koleva had been the bridesmaid at the wedding of Tsvetanov.
Tsvetanov, currently on an official visit to the United States, has rejected the controversy around the apartment purchases as directed against GERB in the run-up to Bulgaria’s May 2019 European Parliament elections.
(Photo of Koleva: Bulgarian Ministry of Sport)
