Allegations of corruption and connections with organized crime Periodically ensuing corruption scandals and controversies has led to reports of high levels of corruption in Borisov's government. According to the
Corruption Perceptions Index, compiled by Transparency International, Borisov's government was as corrupt as previous governments, with two of his closest ministers –
Tzvetan Tzvetanov and
Miroslav Naydenov—investigated by the Prosecutor General and the Tax Authority for taking bribes while in office. Borisov has nonetheless campaigned on an anti-corruption message. Despite Borisov's initial promise, no representative of previous cabinets has so far been convicted. Boyko Borisov was accused of mafia ties by former ambassador to Bulgaria
John Beyrle in 2006, in a leaked memo published by Wikileaks, of facilitating and covering up illegal deals with LUKOIL and trafficking methamphetamines. In 2007 Boyko Borisov was accused by the magazine
U.S. Congressional Quarterly (CQ) of being directly linked to the biggest mobsters in Bulgaria. CQ asserted that, "the most powerful politician in Bulgaria, Washington's newest ally in the global war on terror, is a close associate of known mobsters and linked to almost 30 unsolved murders in the Black Sea republic." According to a confidential report compiled by former top U.S. law enforcement agency officials Borisov had used his position as the Chief Secretary of the Bulgarian Interior Ministry to help organized crime bosses attack their opponents. On 14 January 2011, journalists from the Bulgarian weekly newspaper
Galeria distributed audio records of an alleged conversation between Borisov and Customs Agency Head Vanyo Tanov. The tapes reveal that Borisov instructed customs authorities to immediately stop their investigation of "Ledenika" brewery which had been suspected of illegal activities and tax crimes. However, Finance Minister
Simeon Djankov was recorded on tape ordering the Head of Customs to do his work properly and not yield to Borisov's demands. This created a rift within the government, as it was widely believed that the wiretapping was ordered by Interior Minister
Tsvetan Tsvetanov. Later those tapes were declared "manipulated" (not being able to tell if they were fake or not) by two independent examinations. In early July, Borisov admitted that the conversation had been genuine, though tampered with, while giving an interview to Bulgarian bloggers in the presence of the Interior Minister. A March 2013 investigation by the Prosecutor General suggests that the wire-tapping was ordered by
Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Borisov's trusted deputy in the GERB party, with the aim of getting rid of Customs Head Vanyo Tanov. Corruption has spread under his government, making Bulgaria the European Union's worst-ranked country by the NGO Transparency International. The Prime Minister and his entourage are said to have benefited in particular from a system of misappropriation of European structural funds allocated for the construction of highways. Political scientist Evgenii Dainov says: "[Boïko Borissov] has imposed the feudal structure of a gang of which he is the boss, with his lieutenants around him and local chiefs, some of whom have criminal records. Their goal: to make private profit from public funds." Despite the disclosure of compromising documents, such as audio recordings or photos taken by one of his mistresses showing numerous bundles of 500-euro bills in a drawer, the Bulgarian justice system has never launched an investigation into the matter.
Allegations of threatening journalists and Boyko Borissov at the 2011
EPP summit at
Bouchout Castle,
Meise. In early 2011, several
think-tanks and analysts raised concerns about the decline of
media freedom and transparency in Bulgaria. In 2011, reports surfaced that Borisov had paid cash to journalists to portray him favourably and threatened others who criticized him as early as 2005. In 2012, Bulgaria was ranked as the worst-performing EU member in terms of media freedom, according to
Freedom House, and ranked 80th internationally. By 2018, Bulgaria had dropped to 111th globally in
Reporters Without Borders'
World Press Freedom Index, the lowest among all
European Union members and
candidate countries for the EU membership. According to
Reporters Without Borders, EU funds have been diverted to sympathetic media outlets, while others have been bribed to be less critical of problematic topics. Attacks against individual journalists have also increased.
Allegations of racism and xenophobia On 6 February 2009, Borisov, speaking in Chicago, told
Bulgarian expatriates that the "human material" (as in, the German euphemism '''') and the basis of the Bulgarian population at that moment included 1 million
Roma, 700,000
Turks, and 2.5 million
pensioners. He added that the human material that they are left with as voters and as a pool for recruiting staff is really not that big, as half a million people have left Bulgaria. Vice-president of the
Party of European Socialists,
Jan Marinus Wiersma, accused Borisov of referring to the Turks, Roma, and pensioners in Bulgaria as "bad human material," and claimed that GERB "has already crossed the invisible line between right-wing populism and extremism." Borisov denied these accusations and, in turn, accused the
Bulgarian Socialist Party of attempting to discredit him. Borisov stated in a meeting with NGOs on 5 March 2009 that he intends to include representatives of the Roma ethnicity in all levels of government, including a potential minister, and has reached out to offer inclusivity to Bulgaria's ethnic Turkish population; although these measures and proposals have been seen as politically empty. Borisov had also marked a widespread media presence, being regularly cited in most major media outlets, and had made a total of 1,157 statements from his election until the end of 2010. This trend continued throughout his first mandate, as Borisov and his party completely dominated the country's media reports, with his name being mentioned in more than 8,000 news articles in 2012. He has also been the subject of numerous sycophantic plaudits on the part of his supporters, including a poem lauding his "dignified leadership". In July 2012, he was included as a "historical personality" in history books for high school students, alongside former GERB minister
Rosen Plevneliev and European commissioner
Kristalina Georgieva. Borisov's popularity has been steadily declining due to ongoing scandals surrounding his most-trusted ministers –
Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Agriculture Minister
Miroslav Naydenov. Following a public row due to leaked wiretapped conversations between Boyko Borisov,
Miroslav Naydenov, and the deputy prosecutor general, Boyko Borisov distanced himself from the former agriculture minister, and he was eventually excluded from GERB. According to political scientist Ivan Krastev, "Boyko wants to be everybody's best friend. He wants to hear all sides, make them believe that he has taken their side. He thinks that he needs to take on all positions at once ... He is more
pro-American,
pro-Russian, and pro-European than anyone else." In December 2011, Borisov, who occasionally plays as a striker for the third-division side
FC Vitosha Bistritsa, collected 44% of about 8,000 votes in a fans' poll to crown Bulgaria's Footballer of the Year, ahead of then-
Manchester United F.C. striker
Dimitar Berbatov. Following the result, Borisov called for the award to be annulled, claiming it was a protest vote against the poor conditions of Bulgarian football.
Image controversy and popular protest In June 2020, photographs emerged that purported to show what appeared to be Prime Minister Borisov lying half-naked on a bed, next to a nightstand featuring a handgun and stacks of
euro banknotes. Borisov confirmed that the room in which the photos were taken was his, but denied the gun and money, stating that the images could have been manipulated. Borisov accused President
Rumen Radev of flying a
consumer drone into his residence to take the pictures. He also accused former
Ombudswoman Maya Manolova, TV star
Slavi Trifonov, and his own former second in command,
Tsvetan Tsvetanov (who had just left and condemned the ruling party), of involvement in a plot to take photos of him while he was sleeping in a "KGB-Style"
kompromat operation. Radev condemned the leaks and called it an "insane" invasion of the prime minister's privacy. He added that he owns a drone, but that the accusation that he personally piloted it into the prime minister's residence to take pictures was part of Borisov's "fantasy and paranoia". A leaked audio recording was also posted on the internet, in which a voice that strongly resembled Borisov's spoke in very brass tones and insulted a member of the
National Assembly, as well as various European leaders. These scandals, along with an intrusion by the
Prosecutor General into the Bulgarian presidency, triggered the
2020–2021 Bulgarian protests that sought the resignations of Borisov, his government, and the Prosecutor General. In November 2021, a new batch of photos allegedly from Borisov's bedroom was released to the media. ==References==