Pavlin Dimitrov, head of the Bourgas regional police department, will replace Valentin Petrov at the post of the Interior Ministry’s chief secretary, according to a statement on the Government’s website on April 30 2008.
The Government was going to suggest to President Georgi Purvanov the candidacy of Dimitrov for the post of acting chief secretary of the ministry. According to the law the President appoints and dismisses Interior Ministry’s top officials at request of the Cabinet.
Naturally Petrov will have to be dismissed in order for Dimitrov to be appointed. “The change will speed up the reform within the Ministry” the website read.
The reasons for Petrov’s dismissal are political and not professional, Prime Minister Sergei Stansihev was quoted as saying by Mediapool.bg. “It is a matter of public trust in the ministry. It is quite logical for the new minister to have a new chief secretary,” he said.
On April 1 2008 Stansihev decided to temporarily dismiss Petrov in connection with the row surrounding the ministry and now former minister Roumen Petkov.
On April 1 Stanishev said: “Petrov will be temporary dismissed so that he does not hinder the investigation that the State Agency for National Security (SANS) has launched within the ministry.” SANS was asked by the Prosecutor’s Office to probe several cases of information leaks from the ministry.
Those leaks led to Petkov resigning from office on April 13. His successor Mihail Mikov is expected to announce his team within a few days and Petrov’s dismissal came as the first major change.
Fifty-five years-old Pavlin Dimitrov has worked within the interior ministry system since 1976.
He started as an investigator in Botevgrad where he later headed one of the city’s police departments. In 1993 he came to Sofia and later in 2005 was appointed as head of Bourgas police.
Media reports describe him as a disciplined officer who's name has never been involved in public scandals. According to Mediapool.bg he enjoyed good relations with the Lukiol company, whose refinery is based in Bourgas.
Meanwhile newly appointed Interior Minister Mihail Mikov has started changes in the Ministry’s hierarchy.
Kiril Georgiev, head of the Ministry’s chief directorate for combating organised crime (CDCOC), was diminished to deputy head of CDCOC. As head of the directorate was appointed Petar Vladimirov the current head of CDCOC’s coordination of information and analyses section.
The changes come in the light of an April 25 US department of justice (USDOJ) report which cited Bulgaria as an example of how international organised criminals corrupt and seek to corrupt public officials.
The report said “in March 2008, the CDCOC reportedly revealed that several officials from the ministry had had contacts with controversial businessmen, linked to international organised crime, who were currently under investigation. As part of the scandal, Ivan Ivanov, deputy head of CDCOC, was charged with leaking confidential information. Ilia Iliev, chief secretary of the Ministry of Interior, was arrested for his responsibility in granting documents to travel within the European Union to a Serbian national with ties to organised crime”.
