Former PM Borissov and GERB party members arrested in police operation, supporters stage protest outside his home in Bankya

Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, former Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov, former head of the budget committee Menda Stoyanova and former head of the government information service Sevdalina Arnaudova were detained in a large-scale police raid by the DG National Police on March 17.

Borissov's home in Bankya was searched and he himself was taken to the National Police headquarters in Sofia. Nothing was confiscated from his home, his lawyer Menko Menkov said.

The search began at 8 o'clock this evening, Georg Georgiev, chairman of the party's youth organisation, told BNT. Boyko Borissov's lawyer was not allowed to enter during the search.

Almost the entire parliamentary group and many party activists gathered in support of the GERB leader on Thursday night outside his home. After 22.30 it became clear that Borissov was taken to the Directorate General of National Police. The activists supporting Borissov also headed there.

According to the information, 120 cases of misuse of EU funds have been investigated so far. European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi and European delegated prosecutors have been notified.

The Bulgarian prosecutor's office has not been informed about the investigative actions, Siyka Mileva, spokesperson for the prosecutor general, told BNT. According to the legislation, the Prosecutor's Office must be notified within 24 hours in case of urgency actions.

Menda Stoyanova told BNT that she was not detained and had nothing to do with EU funds and EU projects.

Currently, the Prosecutor's Office is not aware of any urgency investigations against political figures, the spokeswoman of the Prosecutor General, Siyka Mileva, said on the air of BNT.

She added that she is aware of the official information that the case is about the misuse of EU funds, which is under the competence of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. At the moment, I cannot comment on the data and signals received by the Prosecutor's Office regarding the misuse of EU funds, Mileva added.

Under the Bulgarian law, when investigative actions are carried out under urgency, the protocols should be submitted to a prosecutor for approval. As at this hour, this has not been done, Mileva added.