Former Bulgarian interior minister cleared of revealing confidential information

21/11/2008

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Rumen Petkov, a member of parliament from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, was acquitted on Thursday (November 20th) of charges that he revealed confidential information while serving as interior minister. During his last days in the post, Petkov publicly identified an agent at the National Security Agency, assuming the agent's name was already public knowledge. Though his act was unintentional, many assumed he would at least incur a fine. The Sofia city court, however, cleared him of all charges. Petkov resigned as interior minister in April, weeks after the outbreak of a scandal involving senior officials with links to businessmen under investigation for tax fraud and drug trafficking. (Darik, Netinfo, Focus, Sofia News Agency - 20/11/08)