Another one of the trials initiated against Tsvetan Tsvetanov, deputy chairperson of the mandate-holder Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (CEDB) and former interior minister, ended up with a final verdict of not guilty, the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported.

Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassations upheld the acquittal of the former minister on the trial over money misappropriation in his capacity of interior minister.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov was accused of embezzlement of a large sum of money from the Interior Ministry budget – BGN 50,000, to the benefit of Orlin Todorov, former director of the regional unit of the General Directorate for Fight against Organised Crime in the town of Veliko Tarnovo.

Tsvetanov allowed the money to be paid to Todorov in the form of salaries, unused leave and retirement compensation for a time period during which Todorov was being investigated and arrested in the town of Lovech.
The supreme judges upheld the conclusions drawn by Sofia City Court and Sofia Court of Appeals that the case and charges contain no corpus delicti.

According to the ruling, Tsvetanov did not violate the law by keeping Todorov on the post and allowing him to leave the system of the Interior Ministry and receive the due remunerations despite being a defendant in a trial.

Under the Interior Ministry Act, the initiation of a criminal proceeding and attracting an officer as a defendant in a trial are not grounds for dismissing an employee of the Interior Ministry.

This is the second of the total of three trials initiated against Tsvetan Tsvetanov in his capacity of interior ministry to end up with an acquittal.