On Wednesday, DANS employees entered the headquarters of the Customs Agency in Sofia following a report of potential cigarette smuggling. The action was carried out jointly with the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Retired Finance Minister Asen Vassilev described what was happening as attempted intimidation of the head of customs because of the measures taken by her to counter organized crime – dismissed customs officers on signals from foreign services and appointment of employees from the USA and Great Britain at key checkpoints.
Initially, BNT reported that the director of the Customs Agency was detained Petya Bankova, as well as her deputy Ludmil Marinov. Later, however, Petya Bankova’s lawyer, Adelina Atina, explained that she had not received a detention order. From the presented information, it became clear that after leaving her office at the “Customs” Agency, Bankova went to the building of the Anti-Corruption Commission to be questioned.
Later, Bankova herself declared herself to be “the first victim of the new “KONPI”, but did not specify whether she was detained.
On Wednesday evening, BNR announced that in the end 7 people were detained in 24 hours. Among them are the director Petya Bankova and her deputy Lyudmil Marinov. The information is still unofficial, but it has been confirmed by 2 sources – from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and from the prosecutor’s office. The details will officially become clear on Thursday.
Action due to suspected cigarette smuggling?
According to Mediapool, the reason is suspicions of cigarette smuggling. BNT adds that the DANS operation is related to the investigation of suspected smuggler Nikolay Nikolov – Pascal and his possible connections through which smuggling was carried out.
Nikolay Nikolov – Pascal is from Haskovo and is a former customs officer.
“I will not allow smuggling, if this is the state’s problem, let them declare it. I don’t know Pascal, I don’t know who he is.” commented to bTV herself Petya Bankova, director of the Customs Agency.
Bankova declared herself the first victim of the new “KONPI”.
“I am the first victim of the new KONPI, but I will not surrender”she told the media.
According to the information available to BNT, before he started working at the Customs Agency in early March, Marinov was an employee of the State Customs Service. Bankova is also a former DANS employee.
“A few years ago Plamen Tonchev (note ed. former head of DANS) decided that he would send me to Blagoevgrad for a good punishment. That’s their basic scheme – when someone gets in the way, they send them out. Then I said that I will not carry out their orders and left DANS”added Bankova.
According to BNT sources, Petya Bankova’s loan contract worth 12,000 BGN was seized from the home of Petya Bankova in Suhata Reka district. A search is currently being carried out at the home of the deputy director of the Customs Agency Lyudmil Marinov, BNT has learned.
“The action is under the conditions of urgency. Bankova is a former employee of DANS, who has a bad working relationship with Mr. Tonchev and therefore stopped being an employee of DANS. Personal notes were seized from her home, as well as the consumer credit agreement of her husband. Her deputy is also being sought”explained lawyer Adelina Natina.
Action also takes place in Haskovo
Apart from Sofia, the DANS operation is also underway in Haskovo, according to unofficial information available to BNT.
At the moment, this information is unofficial, with law enforcement neither confirming nor denying it.
There is currently an increased police presence in front of the agency.
According to officials of the Customs Agency, Bankova’s other deputy – Georgi Alexandrov, is at his workplace.
The agents, together with police teams, are checking several more addresses in the capital, including a well-known hotel.
The action is joint with the Anti-Corruption Commission. At the moment, the institutions do not confirm the information about the arrests of senior customs officials.
Asen Vasilev: This is an act of intimidation
“If there is no serious evidence that will come out at the end of this action, for me this is an action to intimidate the head of customs, who went to cross the smuggling channels and fired 20 customs officers on the signals of foreign customs organizations, governments and services”. This was stated by the outgoing Finance Minister Asen Vassilev to journalists at the Council of Ministers.
According to him, he and the resigned Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov were not informed about the action.
“I strongly hope that this action is not directed against the effective work of Mrs. Petya Bankova. You know that since she became the head of the Customs Agency, we have seized a record amount of drugs, including 170 kilograms of heroin at the port. Besides this, on a signal from the Austrian government and several other services, more than 20 customs officers were fired. Among them, the station chiefs and shift chiefs at the key border crossings where smuggling is going were replaced.” Vasilev said.
According to him, the other thing that Bankova has done is that Bulgaria already has customs officers from the USA at the “Captain Andreevo” checkpoint and in Burgas. “We are expecting customs officers from England on “Captain Andreevo”. As far as I understand, today the action took place before her (Petya Bankova, b. b.) meeting with the ambassador of Austria, so that Austrian customs officers will also come. We have to wait and see what “DANS and the Anti-Corruption Commission will take out evidence. If there is a problem with corruption or something like that, we will take the appropriate measures.” Vasilev added.
The minister denied knowing the alleged smuggler Nikolay Nikolov – Pascal.
2024-04-03 18:03:56
#DANS #action #customs #Asen #Vassilev #attempt #intimidate #updated #Mediapool.bg
