By Antony Todorov, New Bulgarian University.

The head of the European Prosecutor’s Office, Laura Kövesi, has temporarily suspended Bulgarian representative Teodora Georgieva and even launched an investigation against her. This unusual move in such an EU institution has become the centre of a scandal in Bulgaria, involving a former investigator, a former prosecutor general, a current party leader, a current minister and several institutions.

The Bulgarian European Prosecutor was suspended due to threats against her in connection with the investigation into the misuse of European funds for the expansion of the gas storage facility in Chiren (near Pleven, Bulgaria). According to Georgieva, she is being threatened by MP Delyan Peevski, who is subject to sanctions for corruption by the US and the UK. The Bulgarian European Prosecutor stated that the MP had demanded a bribe of 20 million leva (10 mln. €) to arrange who would implement the project. Separately, there is also an accusation against officials for changing the technology in order to save and embezzle another 80-90 million leva (40-45 mln. €).

For his part, Delyan Peevski, a highly controversial political figure in Bulgaria, accused Georgieva of being elected to the post at the suggestion of another character, former investigator Petyo Petrov, nicknamed Pepi the Euro, who has been wanted by the investigation for a long time for multiple crimes. Moreover, the wanted investigator himself has filed a report with the prosecutor’s office that during the period 2019-2023 he gave Georgieva 10,000 leva per month. And Delyan Peevski threatened to sue her for perjury. In addition, he claims that she is the “personal prosecutor” of one of the leaders of the opposition and a sharp critic of the “Peevski model” Kiril Petkov.

The story also involves a connection with another dark figure of crime in Bulgaria – Martin Bozhanov, nicknamed the Notary, who seems to have worked together with Pepi the Euro. Bozhanov was killed by an unknown perpetrator in late January 2025, but became known as a man who could get someone out of prison, ruin someone else’s business, and provide an “umbrella” over someone else. Names from high politics came out of his presence, and his widow is an employee of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDBOP).

The scandal took on a new dimension with the publication of a hidden camera video allegedly of a meeting between Pepi the Euro and Teodora Georgieva. In fact, this does not look good and many believe that it is compromising material prepared to disqualify the Bulgarian European Prosecutor. However, Pepi the Euro himself, who recently returned to Bulgaria from Dubai after months of hiding from the prosecutor’s office, claims that such a meeting took place and that opportunities to influence specific court cases were discussed at it. And one more thing – a few days before the release of the video recordings, Teodora Georgieva’s mother died in a fire in her home under still unclear circumstances.

This whole story is not a script for an action movie on a crime theme. And although the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office claims that it is starting to carefully investigate all this, public opinion is again sceptical that anything will really be brought to light. The public is left with the impression that there is a well-developed criminal network for control and influence over the judicial system, for corruption of public officials, for fraud not only with European funds, for pressure on inconvenient judges and prosecutors, but also the presence of too many corrupt justice officials.

There is now some expectation among public opinion that the intervention of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in this case will unravel some of the most dangerous and obvious manifestations of organized political corruption in Bulgaria. Because society as a whole does not believe that the current National Prosecutor’s Office and the current Supreme Judicial Council in Bulgaria, responsible for the career development of prosecutors and judges, will be able to do this. It remains to be seen whether the EU institution will now help Bulgarian citizens to believe that there can be real justice in the interests of the people.

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Antony Todorov is a political scientist and a professor at the New Bulgarian University. He was visiting teacher at ULB (Brussels) and at the University of Bucharest and president of the Bulgarian Political Science Association from 2001 to 2012. His research interests lie in democracy, party politics, and the study of elections.