The former Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov stated on the air of “The Day Begins” on BNT that no charges have been brought because of the agreement concluded with Petrokhan’s NGO. His comment comes a day after the interim head of DANS announced that there are currently active criminal proceedings against officials and a person holding a senior public position regarding the activities of the non-governmental organization related to Ivaylo Kalushev. Borislav Sandov also indicated that he visited the former “Petrohan” hut three times in the period from 2022 to 2024.
“I have not been charged and it would be ridiculous if they somehow tried to…
– BNT: And inspection?
– No, no. The only thing I can say is that in the summer of 2022 I gave explanations to DANS on a signal in connection with this framework partnership agreement.”
According to Sandov, the criminal focus of the case is being shifted and politicized.
“I see that the issue is shifting due to the failure to deal with the purely criminal part of the case, trying to politicize the topic right from the beginning, no wonder they try to attack me in a similar way. I don’t know why there is this brutal attack by various public figures, including chairmen of parties, represented in parliament, and even part of the government. Like Slavi Trifonov, who attacks me with absolutely false statements, but it is clear that he is trying to shift the whole case to purely politicization. And this, of course, has a context, elections are coming up, a caretaker government is being appointed.”
The former eco-minister denied claims by the resigned Minister of Environment and Water, Manol Genov, that the agreement concluded with Petrokhan’s NGO was illegal.
“It is not illegal. There are enough grounds in the Environmental Law and in the Constitution to encourage civil society and to look for a way to interact with the executive authorities. This is something similar, firstly it is not a permit, secondly it is not a contract. It is as if we and a representative of this organization are in the studio and say to the public – let’s work together to protect the environment. This is the burden of the agreement. It does not create powers, does not impute obligations, does not take over the functions of the state, although by law this is possible and happens from other institutions. What the agreement says is that the MoEW and NAKST will cooperate and support each other in carrying out activities aimed at protecting the environment and increasing public awareness about the regimes of protected areas by providing expert, advisory, technical and other assistance and training, as well as in the exercise of monitoring and control.
Sandov emphasized that the inspections of the “National Agency for the Control of Protected Areas” did not find any irregularity.
“All the inspections carried out, including those of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, concluded that it did not violate the law and did not carry out activities that were primarily state-related.”
The former eco-minister denied that he knew representatives of the NGO before the conclusion of the agreement and that they recommended them to him.
“Mr. Genov’s claims that it was something outside the administration is not true. It does not require conciliation procedures.”
Sandov commented on Genov’s reply that representatives of the NGO entered the Eco-Ministry armed.
“It’s impossible. It’s forbidden, it certainly didn’t happen.”
Sandov admitted that he visited the hut several times and drank tea on the veranda with Ivaylo Kalushev, but “they did not have friendly relations”.
“I have visited the lodge once in 2022 to make sure there is no bogus work and they really have the equipment that they have shown me pictures of, that indeed the base is in a condition where they can live there and do this type of activity. I saw equipment related to these dives maybe because I saw multiple oxygen cylinders, I saw equipment that is a jeep that is off-road.”
Sandov denied seeing any children there.
“I have visited the lodge twice more, for a day, as a family, on the warmest hot days in the country when we were trying to escape the heat and again for a short time.
– BNT: On vacation, right?
– In the summer of 2023 once and 2024. On the warmest days, if you check, you will know exactly when it was.
– BNT: But you had access to this place while other people did not. How did you reserve a night?
– No, no, look, wait, no overnight stay is reserved there. I’ve called to say I’m coming up and I’d love to see you for tea and so on. There was no obstruction to my getting to the place, but that’s our relationship, we didn’t have any deep relationship with these people that would in any way suggest that we were on friendly terms, we weren’t colleagues, we weren’t involved in the same organization. We had only one joint action and it was with many other people, well-known personalities in Bulgaria, when DPS, then there was no “New Beginning” yet, tried to push an amendment to the Law on Forests, then we initiated a big appeal, in which they also joined. I mentioned that I had seen Ivaylo Ivanov, one of the victims, I had to start by expressing my condolences again and again. I think the disgust that’s going on, especially towards relatives, towards people who are close to them, is obscene, especially when it comes from bodies of state power that have expired.”
According to Sandov, a representative of the organization or the entire NGO cooperated with DANS.
“The NGO itself has not established anything as an irregularity.
– BNT: What about the people?
– They also all have a clean criminal past. And what became clear yesterday is that most likely, one or two of them, or the whole organization cooperated with DANS. If they were investigated, this is said in open session. If the director of DANS with an expired mandate says we must close the session and then deputies say he did not answer even in a closed session, it means only one thing. And otherwise, for the doubts that are served by the versions of the law enforcement authorities, the whole society is shaken because they diverge, and this simply reinforces the low trust in these institutions.”
“We haven’t had a close relationship. I’m telling you again. We’ve only heard from each other sporadically when this happened. Last year we didn’t even hear from each other.”
Sandov emphasized that he did not notice anything disturbing in the behavior of representatives of the NGO.
“There was nothing disturbing in the behavior. But for sectarianism, for paramilitary, for that “n” word, which I don’t even want to mention on the national air early in the morning, no indications… Once I saw maybe one of these victims there, the boy who he is, because he resembles from the video, from those videos that were released, he resembled exactly this boy. I admit, I thought he was the son of Ivo Kalushev. We didn’t сме комуникирали. Разбирате ли? Ние сме пили чай на верандата и сме коментирали общополитически теми. Или теми, свързани с гората, какво се случва с биоразнообразието. Коментирахме възможността за обявяване на нова защитена територия там. Това са темите, които сме обсъждали. И аз мисля, че тези хора работиха в тази посока. Наистина не мога да повярвам за всички онези неща, с които се опитват да ги набедят. Дори още не са погребани тези хора. Толкова Dirt is poured on them. When they testify to how much they helped each other. I feel disgusted, including on a personal level, because of the attempt to somehow transfer this institutional irresponsibility to me.”
He explained that there was a report of logging in the hard-to-reach area in the area.
“A logging report was filed in front of me. In this case, I filed a report with them, because on the way up I saw a truck with wood, I issued a report, they also issued a report. And I know from representatives of RISW – Montana that they submitted reports and based on their reports, they found violations.”
The former eco-minister denied that the state financed the NGO.
“There was not a penny from the ministry, there was not a penny from the state budget to them. So that’s why I said at the beginning – I don’t see why any accusation could be brought against me in any way, by a law enforcement agency for such an agreement. Which on top of that, I specified two months later in a response, again public, that specifying, giving clarification to the organization itself, to the public, that it does not create any additional rights and that it does not usurp any state functions.
During the interview, Manol Genov joined the air.
“I just want to say that the source is not one woman said, but two women. And they were in the presence of this gentleman in the ministry. How does Mr. Sandov say that it is forbidden or not? I have not seen in the years at the entrance of the Ministry of Defense a sign that it is forbidden to enter with a weapon.”
Sandov replied:
“I don’t know how this inclusion of Mr. Genov helped. Did one or two women say it? Let them give evidence where they have to. But I say again, there is a representative of the NSO in front of the minister’s office. Ask according to their rules if it is permissible for them to let someone in with a weapon. But this is categorically not true. I really cannot understand. I do not know who these two women are who are trusted so much. But they definitely did not enter my office with a weapon.”
Watch the entire conversation in the video
date:2026-02-13 07:40:00