The Executive of Bulgaria has ordered the temporary return to Sofia of its ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ivan Jordanov, in the context of an investigation into a possible corruption network.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Velislava Petrova, summoned Jordanov this Friday with "urgency," according to a statement from the Ministry that mentions an "inspection of the activities" of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission in the emirate.
The department has not clarified whether the ambassador will be relieved of his position, although it has emphasized in the same note that "according to the established procedure, heads of diplomatic missions are dismissed by decree of the president of the Republic (...) at the proposal of the Council of Ministers," and has added that "appropriate measures" will be taken to elevate the case for consideration by the Government.
The investigation is linked to an alleged corruption network surrounding opposition deputy Delyan Peevski — sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom — who supposedly used a shell company to pay for flights on private jets amounting to over five million euros, aircraft that would belong to the father of the ambassador in Abu Dhabi, according to the Bulgarian news agency BTA.
According to the investigations, the same company would have received money from four companies that obtained public contracts for the supply and installation of security barriers on roads, as explained this Friday by the Minister of the Interior, Ivan Demerdzhiev, in a press conference.