By Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST, Feb 15 2007 (IPS)

Still “on probation” from Brussels, Bulgaria is taking bold steps to persuade the European Union that it is efficient in getting rid of corruption and organised crime.

Bulgaria and Romania became members of the European Union Jan. 1, 2007, on the toughest terms ever set for a new member state.

“Immediate corrective action must be taken in order to fight corruption,” warned the last monitoring report on the state of reforms in Bulgaria and Romania before EU entry, issued by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, in September 2006.

Unless the two countries pursue reforms in the justice system and in fighting corruption – with a special mention to Bulgaria for combating organised crime – a “safeguard” measure will be imposed allowing the other EU states to disregard warrants issued in these countries. European funds could be delayed too.

Progress must be made by the end of March 2007, when the first post-adhesion evaluation will be made.

The Commission’s report detailed the serious problems facing Bulgaria: “Contract killings rarely result in successful investigations and prosecutions. Illegal possession of firearms remains a problem. The number of cases prosecuted successfully related to trafficking of human beings, drug smuggling, money laundering, counterfeiting of goods, currency and documents is still low.”

So far the Bulgarians have been showing that they have at least the political will to reform. The first significant step in this direction was “putting a face” to the process of justice reform. That is Boris Velchev, Bulgaria’s new prosecutor general appointed February 2006.

At 43, Velchev is a highly respected university law professor and has been working as head of the legal department in the office of President Georgi Parvanov. The international press and NGOs in Bulgaria welcomed Velchev’s election for the seven-year, non- renewable term.

Boris Velchev began his term by cleaning up his own courtyard. At first, he declared that many prosecutors are corrupt, and most are not efficient enough – he even called them “lazy”. He argued that the fight against organised crime cannot even begin unless a clean prosecution service is created.

Then, in November 2006, Velchev established a special unit of prosecutors-investigators, his own innovation, made up of five young prosecutors, to pursue the 25 most high- profile cases of corruption in Bulgaria.

The special unit is headed by deputy prosecutor-general of Sofia Borislav Djambazov, also a popular figure with the Bulgarian press and public.

Djambazov himself is in charge, among the five cases assigned to him, of the most publicised case of corruption in the country: the former chief of Sofia’s Heating Utility Company, Valentin Dimitrov, has been charged with gross embezzlement. Dimitrov has had to resign from his position because of the investigation.

Transparency International Bulgaria reports that it is too early yet to expect more concrete results from the special unit.

“The team was established only three months ago. In view of the fact that this unit is working on very complex cases, genuine results should be expected in six to nine months,” Vanya Kashukeeva-Nusheva from Transparency International Bulgaria told IPS.

“Furthermore, according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, the initial investigation should be completed in a period of two months or in a period of nine months when the case is more complex.”

Bulgaria’s most recent public show of political will to reform has been the adoption Feb. 2 of four constitutional amendments, two of which concern the justice system.

One amendment provides for the creation of a new watchdog appointed by the Parliament to oversee the judicial branch. Within the framework of the Bulgarian constitution adopted in 1990, the judges and prosecutors have enjoyed full independence. But the European Union has been calling for a limitation of the freedom of the judiciary.

“The idea of the new amendment is to strike a balance between independence and accountability for the judges and the prosecutors, so that they would not be under excessive political pressure,” Ivelin Sardamov, assistant professor of political science at the American University in Bulgaria told IPS. “But at the same time they would not have a sense of impunity and allow criminals to go free if handed a sufficiently thick envelope.”

Prosecutor General Velchev, worried about the negative impact that a corrupted and unstable Parliament can have on the pace of the justice reform, initially opposed the amendment, but he too eventually yielded to EU imperatives.

Another constitutional amendment calls for limiting the immunity of judges and prosecutors to the domains of their professional activities only.

Boris Velchev has been calling for such a reform. During his mandate, at least ten members of the Parliament have been stripped of their parliamentary immunity in order to face corruption charges.

The Bulgarian officials in charge of corruption do have reasons to be satisfied. According to a report published last month by Vitosha Research, an independent study group, levels of corruption have decreased in the business sector, as well as among administrators, police officers and taxation officers.

Minister of the Interior Roumen Petkov reported that he dismissed 46 officials from his ministry who were found guilty of corruption over the past year. More than 50 others are being investigated.

Eighteen police officers have been fired on similar charges.

Petkov additionally announced that the number of criminal acts committed in Sofia went down by 13.9 percent during 2006, and that there have been only a third as many public murders as in the previous year.

Still, the reasons to be optimistic should not be overstated. Famous judicial trials such as the one on the bankruptcy of 14 banks in 1996-1997 because of embezzlement have not been finalised.

And the accused in 155 public murders committed since 2000 by way of settling of scores between mafia groups have yet to be sentenced.

Bulgaria’s fight has only just begun.

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