Bulgarian ex-energy minister cedes immunity over nuclear project, says innocent
SOFIA - Ex-energy minister Delyan Dobrev voluntarily gave up his parliamentary immunity on Monday after Bulgarian prosecutors asked lawmakers to strip him of it, and denied any wrongdoing over the loss of state funds in a cancelled nuclear project.
Prosecutors accuse Dobrev, who was energy minister in the first government of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, of failing to take steps to stop payments to a consultant company engaged with the Belene nuclear project after it was cancelled in 2012.
"The request is based on evidence collected by the Sofia City Prosecution for a crime committed by Delyan Dobrev when he was economy and energy minister, which caused damages worth 4.56 million euros ($4.9 million) to the state energy firm NEK," the chief prosecutor said in a statement.
