SOFIA -- Bulgaria has moved to dismiss powerful Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev halfway through his seven-year term amid growing domestic and Western frustration with his failure to tackle endemic corruption.
Bulgaria’s Supreme Judicial Council voted on June 12 to oust Geshev following months of political intrigue, which included an alleged bomb attack against the prosecutor-general. President Rumen Radev must sign off on the dismissal before it becomes official.
The council’s decision comes on the heels of a new coalition government in Bulgaria that had made the removal of Geshev, one of the most powerful political figures in the country, a priority.
The 52-year-old Geshev immediately denounced the council’s decision, blaming former longtime Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and influential tycoon Delyan Peevski for his ouster.
Geshev had been seen as a loyal appointee of Borisov and Peevski, who together had dominated Bulgarian politics for much of the past 14 years. But Borisov recently backed calls for Geshev’s dismissal as his GERB party sought to form a coalition government with We Continue The Change-Democratic Bulgaria.
Geshev was elected in late 2019 to a seven-year term by the 25-member council, believed to be under the control of Borisov and Peevski.
His election immediately triggered outrage among activists who accused Geshev of politically targeted investigations while serving as the special anti-corruption prosecutor.
Geshev’s decision the following year to order the search of an aide to Radev, who initially rejected his election, gave new impetus to a growing anti-government protest movement.
Geshev was soon accused by Bulgarian tycoons of launching criminal cases in an attempt to seize their assets. They took their complaint to Capitol Hill, hiring Washington lobbyists to make their case.
Geshev’s actions and inactions caught the attention of the U.S. Senate, which criticized his office for failing to rein in corruption in a rare rebuke of a NATO nation.
Representative Warren Davidson (Republican-Ohio) singled out Geshev in a December letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, saying there had been an “escalation in the misconduct of the Bulgarian judiciary” since the Senate rebuke.
The United States and Britain in February sanctioned several Bulgarian individuals for corruption in what some experts interpreted as growing frustration in Washington and London over Geshev’s failure to crack down on powerful people involved in graft.
Bulgaria is among the lowest ranked in the European Union when it comes to corruption perception, according to Transparency International.
Amid the increasing pressure, Geshev in May claimed he was the target of a roadside bomb attack, which critics said was staged in an attempt to boost his image as an anti-corruption crusader.
However, his political star was jeopardized after Borisov’s GERB agreed to form a coalition government with We Continue The Change-Democratic Bulgaria, which has been a strong critic of Geshev.
As part of the coalition agreement, the new government agreed to remove Geshev.
Radev has not indicated when he will sign Geshev’s dismal as there is no deadline.