DB coalition seeks OFAC clarification on alleged "Borissov-Bozhkov" links

The GERB party has issued an official statement in response to a document published by the investigative website BIRD, which claims that the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) accepted as established businessman Vasil Bozhkov's admission that he had paid bribes to former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov in exchange for favorable treatment of his business, Bulgarian National Radio's Horizont programme reported.

GERB stressed that the published document is a procedural filing rather than a court ruling. In its statement, the party said that "attempts to present individual sentences as definitive truth constitute political propaganda rather than legal analysis."

Earlier in the day, the Democratic Bulgaria coalition announced that it had sent a letter to OFAC seeking clarification. Among its questions are why Vladislav Goranov was sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act while Boyko Borissov was not, and whether this reflects the available evidence or "is the result of other considerations."

According to the coalition, the Bulgarian public deserves a full explanation of the case, as it concerns a former prime minister of the country, BTA reported.

Edited by Miglena Ivanova