NEW HOPE IN BULGARIA'S FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED

S E C R E T SOFIA 000420 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2028 TAGS: PGOV PREL BU SUBJECT: NEW HOPE IN BULGARIA'S FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME REF: SOFIA 389 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sutton for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) SUMMARY. In his first days in office, new Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov, asked to see DCM Sutton and representatives of law enforcement agencies at post to seek our advice and stress his determination to make organized crime and corruption his top priority. Aware that he inherits a dysfunctional and demoralized ministry, he has already begun firing the worst of the old guard and has begun the establishment of an organized crime task force in line with U.S. recommendations. In his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, he and the Prime Minister are preparing a major overhaul of the State Agency for National Security (DANS) starting with the removal of Chairman Petko Sertov. Tsvetanov has a solid track record as an honest cop and is one of the new Prime Minister's closest confidants. While the challenge is Herculean, his political support, enthusiasm and openness to us makes real progress in law enforcement in Bulgaria possible. END SUMMARY. REFORMING THE STATE AGENCY FOR NATIONAL SECURITY (DANS) ¶2. (S) According to Tsvetanov, DANS Chairman Sertov will announce his resignation soon, prematurely ending his 5-year term. As a close associate of former Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, Sertov has long been criticized as a patently political appointment to what was intended to be an apolitical agency. Tsvetanov said that Alexi Petrov, the PM's advisor on DANS, (a controversial figure widely criticized for alleged criminal connections) would also be forced to resign. Tsvetanov stressed that he wanted to bring in the most trustworthy figures to fill these roles and sought the embassy's advice on candidates. He also said he planned to considerably downsize DANS so as to avoid duplication of effort with the Ministry of Interior and to move DANS away from law enforcement and toward counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics and counter-intelligence functions. CLEANING HOUSE AT MOI ¶3. (S) As one of his first acts in office, Tsvetanov fired Deputy Police Commissioner General Minko Braykov (the number two position in the national police hierarchy) who he believed had been connected with leaks of sensitive information and political interference in investigations. Tsvetanov emphasized that the new Deputy Commissioner General and his Deputy Ministers would be selected from a pool of younger, reform-minded thinkers with international experience, and he would not recycle old faces from previous administrations. BUILDING AN OC/CORRUPTION TASK FORCE ¶4. (S) Aware that tackling organized crime and corruption cases will require resources outside of MOI, Tsvetanov said he will make improved interagency coordination a priority, and has already taken steps to initiate a multi-agency organized crime task force along lines suggested by the embassy. Particularly, he said his office will strive to improve coordination with the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General. He stressed that cooperation between the U.S. and Bulgaria on narcotics and money laundering is already strong, but he hoped it would continue to grow. ¶5. (S) COMMENT: Tsvetanov is backing up his pre-election rhetoric with action; he is clearly eager to cooperate with us and genuinely interested in achieving results. We had an excellent relationship with him during his previous term in the MOI, and we expect this to continue in the new government. Though he faces tremendous challenges in reforming a broken law enforcement system, he has gotten off to a great start. He is looking for our support and he deserves it. McEldowney