Agency Report

Police released Bulgaria’s ex-prime minister Boyko Borisov on Friday a day after arresting him as part of an investigation into misuse of EU funds.

The 62-year-old and several other members of his party were detained on Thursday in what the interior ministry on Thursday said were investigations by EU prosecutors.

“They came into my home while we were having dinner,” Borisov said after his release in comments broadcast on television.

Searching his home, authorities “did not find anything and when I thought they were leaving, they told me: ‘We have to arrest you,” he added.

“It was brutal and disgusting. We have returned to the time of communism.”

He said he had not been charged. Prosecutors had yet to comment on the outcome of his detention. Two other members of his party were also released without charge.

Hundreds of Borisov’s supporters demonstrated in protest at his arrest in the centre of the capital on Friday morning.

The conservative former premier has been hit by a series of corruption allegations over the years but has denied any wrongdoing.

Bulgaria’s Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said Borisov is accused of taking bribes from the now exiled lottery magnate Vasil Bozhkov.

European prosecutors say they have opened 120 investigations into fraud related to various public tenders and subsidies in Bulgaria.

Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said the Borisov affair “concerns misappropriation of public money”.

AFP