Kiril Petkov announced at a briefing that he is taking political responsibility and resigning as co-chair of "We Continue the Change" (part of the PP-DB coalition, which has the second largest number of MPs in the National Assembly) and is leaving parliament. The resignation comes against the backdrop of a scandal surrounding PP, which erupted after on Monday, June 23, the mayors of the large residential areas of "Lyulin" and "Mladost" in Sofia, Georgi Todorov and Ivaylo Kukurin, announced that they were leaving the party and continuing to work as independent mayors due to pressure exerted on them to participate in previously agreed public procurement procedures. 

The next day, Sofia Deputy Mayor Nikola Barbutov, responsible for "European Policies, International Affairs and Tourism", was taken away by police from the Sofia Municipality for questioning in the Anti-Corruption Commission. Today, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev dismissed Barbutov from his position and appointed an internal audit of all public procurement procedures with Barbutov as the contracting authority, reporter Evelina Stoyanova informed. 

Earlier in the day, a recording leaked to the media, allegedly between Sofia Deputy Mayor Nikola Barbutov and the Mayor of the Lyulin District Georgi Todorov, which talks about agreements on public procurement in the Sofia Municipality. "I don't know if this recording is real, but if it is real, it shows a failure in the integrity of these people," Petkov commented. He was firm that no one from the party leadership knew that there were talks about money from party members and that none of the people involved in this had contacted him or any other top PP official, reporter Maria Fileva informed. Petkov announced that Asen Vassilev would remain leader of the party. Vassilev himself did not attend the briefing.

Editor: Miglena Ivanova

Publication in English: Alexander Markov

Photo: BTA