In 2023: Not a single verdict in 57 high-level corruption cases in Bulgaria

2023 was another year in which high-level corruption in Bulgaria remained under the radar, as the criminal proceedings conducted did not reflect the true state of corruption in the public sector, according to one of the findings of the Anti-Corruption Fund's (ACF) annual monitoring report.

The document reveals that last year, when Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev's mandate was prematurely terminated and his deputy Borislav Sarafov took his place, there was not a single verdict in 57 key investigations.

"The activity of the Prosecutor's Office slowed down almost to a halt last year, not that there was much activity in previous years. The little activity that did take place was rather directed against certain political figures who were attacked with the methods of prosecutorial repression," Andrey Yankulov, one of the authors of the report, told BNR.

"A year of complete abstention of the Prosecutor's Office from investigating corruption at the highest levels of power" - this is how the representative of the Anti-Corruption Fund sums up the activity of the Prosecutor's Office.