Bulgaria’s ruling coalition nominates Tsatsarov as anti-corruption commission head
The parties in Bulgaria’s government coalition nominated on November 19 outgoing prosecutor-general Sotir Tsatsarov as head of the Commission for Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property.
The formal nomination comes after several media reports in recent weeks claimed that Tsatsarov, whose term as prosecutor-general expires in January 2020, was interested in the position, which has been vacant since July 31, when Plamen Georgiev’s resignation was accepted by Parliament.
Georgiev, who had been elected to the position in March 2018, resigned in the wake of a real estate row, amid an investigation into the legality of a recreational feature on the terrace of the building where he lives. He denied any wrongdoing and was later appointed as consul-general in Valencia, Spain.
Like his predecessor, Tsatsarov’s nomination was backed by the senior partner in the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s GERB, and the ultra-nationalist parties in the United Patriots group, the junior partner in the coalition.
With two days before the nomination deadline, the only other candidate for the job as head of the anti-corruption body, which has wide-ranging powers, was Simeon Naidenov, MP for the smallest party in Bulgaria’s current Parliament, Volya.
