Head of the Administrative Court threatened by a senior magistrate with “that list”

Warnings from a high-ranking magistrate to withdraw from a competition for a judge at the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) and an attempt to deal with him. This is what the former chairman of the Administrative Court of Sofia-city (ACSC) described in a conversation with BIRD.BG – Judge Radostin Radkov, after being contacted for comment due to the fact that his name appears in the “Rashkov’s List“” with magistrates who have not declared properties and accounts abroad. According to him, he was placed on this list without grounds, probably maliciously in order to hinder his career development and to be “sanctioned” because he did not satisfy the wishes of authorized persons while he was at the head of the ACSC.

Beyond the specific case, the words of Radostin Radkov testify to serious interference of authorized persons, probably representatives of the executive and legislative authorities, in the functioning of the court and in the personnel policy of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Radkov pointed out ” the list of magistrates who, in violation of the law, have not declared properties and accounts abroad” in many cases is a means of pressure and an instrument to keep magistrates in subjection. He stressed that in addition to the magistrates who have been included in this list, there are two more categories. The first was “our people” who have Properties and accounts abroad, subject to declaration, which were not declared, but these magistrates were conveniently “omitted” when the list was drawn up. The third category of magistrates were persons who had fulfilled their obligations under the Judiciary Act (JSA), but were included in this list in order to be repressed for one reason or another.

When we talked with Radostin Radkov, like other magistrates, he expected to be contacted for comment. Probably because the topic of his property in Greece is not new at all. The former head of the ACSC Radkov has declared a property in Greece – a house with a yard in Asprovalta, back in 2015.

“Our people” are missing from “that list”

It turned out that Judge Radkov had made his own research in connection with “the list of magistrates who, in violation of the law, have not declared properties and accounts abroad”, which was called by his colleagues “that list”.

Radostin Radkov: If we are talking about the list that is known to me, and not something different, it should be a list from 2018, and which was already rumored to exist. I haven’t seen it, but I know that there is a list. Are you talking about this list?

BIRD reporter: I don’t know what year it is from, but this or a similar list was commented on by Boyko Rashkov in his capacity as Interior Minister.

Radostin Radkov: Yes, so we are talking about a list. The list was prepared, if I’m not mistaken, when the Prosecutor General was Sotir Tsatsarov. Но може би да е било и по времето на Ivan Geshev, I don’t remember. In connection with your statement that I am on such a list, a series of checks were carried out on me. But to your question, I know about this list and I do not have a property that is undeclared. I have a property abroad that has been declared immediately – within the time limits within which it must be declared. It is not a secret what I have and what I do not have, it appears in my property declaration. My property is a small yard with a small house in Asprovalta – Northern Greece. It was acquired in 2014, the funds under the transaction were transferred by bank transfer. Completely. Within the period in which I am obliged under the JSA to declare it, i.e. the next year, I have declared it. Proof of this is my declaration. It existed on the website of the National Audit Office at that time. Separately, on the day of the transaction, the property was declared to the Greek fiscal authorities. His taxes are paid every year. Separately, this has been declared to the NRA in Bulgaria.

A declaration with entry No G1463/23.04.2015 has been submitted to the National Audit Office, the acquisition price is BGN 277,285.

Unlike many of his colleagues, Radkov clearly declares that he believes that there are many irregularities in connection with this list.

Radostin Radkov: It is very interesting why in the list of magistrates who have not declared accounts and properties abroad there are persons who do not meet the criteria – I mean myself. Personally, this question has been bothering me for years, but unfortunately I do not have the resources to answer the question why I am on a list in which I should not be included.

BIRD: Apparently we are talking about some kind of suspicion? You suspect that this list…

Pressure on referees through “that list”

Radostin Radkov: I do not know the other names on the list, but since I was checked by the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Revenue Agency and all the time it was claimed that the checks were in connection with this list, which I have never seen with my own eyes, we assume that there is such a list. From then on, I ask myself why I am included in this list, provided that I am not a person who has concealed and has not declared his property anywhere. Not only abroad. I associate it with the fact that when this list appeared and these inspections began, they lasted almost 3 years for me, very interestingly coincided with a moment when I had applied for a competition for the Supreme Administrative Court. Very interestingly, a series of journalistic publications coincided with this period, which were again based on the same list. Even a colleague of yours with a TV show made 3-4 shows at my expense, with similar statements, without much effort to clarify the facts, as you are asking me now.

Radkov clearly declared his inner conviction that he had been “put in” in “the list of magistrates who, in violation of the law, did not declare properties and accounts abroad” in order to exert pressure on him, due to the fact that he had been the administrative head of the ACSC for two mandates.

Radostin Radkov: And in this capacity and in my capacity as a candidate for judge in the Supreme Administrative Court, the important question for me is why I was included in such a list, which hangs like a sword of Damocles over my head? Your call is I don’t know which one in a row is related to this list. And I, who am wrongly included and suffer the consequences of this oversight or this deliberate inclusion. I have been putting up with them for 7 years now. At the moment I am a candidate for judge in the next competition for YOU and you call me with the same question. This is disturbing for me, I was not born yesterday, I have been a judge for 32 years, I have seen all sorts of things and this somehow tells me that it is not accidental that “this dish is being reheated”. I went through a full tax audit, which ended without any discrepancies on my part in my income and expenses. However, due to the mistake or bad faith of the person who prepared the list or of the persons who ordered the list, I am forced to explain that this is not the case.

Although he repeatedly stressed that he had not personally seen the “list of“, Radkov made it clear that he had been informed, by other colleagues, that they had also been placed on the list in order to create discomfort for them and possibly to become more obedient. However, the judge refused to name specific names without first obtaining their consent.

Radostin Radkov: You see, I also have my own channels of information, and because for me this question was striking at the time when I had to suffer the consequences of being on such a list, I made some efforts through my own channels to obtain some information. What I do know is that there are persons who meet these conditions – that is, they have no declared properties or accounts abroad, but not included in a similar or in this list. That is, ” Our people” – those we need to protect are not on the list. The rest who meet the conditions are included, and a third group of magistrates, I suppose I am not the only one in this group, who do not meet these conditions, in general, in my opinion, are included intentionally, precisely with the idea of keeping them in suspense and in fear.

Списъка на Рашков: Съдии със сметки и имоти зад граница

Friendly advice from the highest magistrate: Withdraw from the competition “to save yourself the problems…, and there will be a lot of them”

The magistrate revealed an extremely disturbing detail about the way this list was “used”, probably not accidentally called by another judge “that list” from the SJC, and probably by the “big three” in the judiciary.

Radostin Radkov: I will allow myself to tell you something additional that I have not said to anyone in the course of these inspections. A senior magistrate, but when I say a senior – a very senior magistrate, one of the highest magistrates, who is no longer in the system, he told me the following in connection with this list and my participation then in the competition for a judge in the Supreme Administrative Court. He told me ” My friendliest advice, I advise you to withdraw from this competition and not to participate in it, in order to save yourself the problems that are just beginning. And there will be a lot of them and soon you will understand them and the lightest of these problems will be a tax audit of your family. “I did not withdraw my documents. In professional circles, I consider myself a person with a very hard head, not to say a gourd. This chapter has the property of hardening even more when someone speaks to me in this way. I did not withdraw from this competition and literally a month later I was handed an order for revision and all the other things followed. Including from the clearer one, I was not ranked in this competition. Without the commission that carries out the ranking to come up with a clear opinion, according to the formal criteria of the law, why am I not ranked. Given that I was the participant with the longest professional experience, that I was the participant with the least annulled judicial acts and with the highest percentage, in terms of the quality of my judicial activity. Given that at that time I was the chairman of the largest administrative court and I carried this heavy burden on my back. All some professional achievements that in another situation would be a plus for a candidate like me, but here I am telling you that I was not ranked and exactly what this colleague told me happened. And if ever this conversation between you and me becomes public, most likely this colleague will recognize himself. If he wishes, he can come out and say “I am the person who said this thing to Radostin Radkov.”

BIRD: And what does a very senior magistrate mean?

Radostin Radkov: It means a magistrate who manages a certain structure of the judiciary from the highest level. And this magistrate, here I give you the Joker, he is no longer in the judicial system. BIRD reporter: I can think of one.

Radostin Radkov: You may remember, yes. His words were said at that time like this. I didn’t feel them as a threat on his part, I felt them as an expression of some kind of goodwill and even concern, because in this way they were presented to me – look, do this and what I tell you, because problems begin that… The words sounded like some kind of conspiracy against me.

BIRD: And who do you think is at the heart of this conspiracy?

Radostin Radkov: I have no idea. I, in my capacity as the administrative head of the ACSC, because certainly all these things and the conversation we are having in connection with this list are 100% related to my then existence as the head of this big court, I have achieved the following that I am proud of – the court did not enter into a single scandal, the court developed a very good team. There is not a single colleague in the court – a judge who would point me out and say that this is our leaders or the chairman wanted something unregulated from me. You can probably assume that in order to achieve this, it was related to refusing some things that are required of me.

From the words of Radostin Radkov a reasonable assumption can be made who advised him to withdraw from the competition for a judge in the SAC. Radkov’s name was not specified, but the ISJC can, and should, disclose it after Radkov claims that he was subjected to pressure in his capacity as administrative head of the ACSC by an authorized person. As an indirect confirmation of Radkov’s words, we can accept the fact that against the current administrative head of the ACSC – Dobromir Andreev there were signalthat he tried to interfere in the work of his colleagues on solving a specific case. Judges Antoaneta Argirova and Tanya Zhilova clearly stated that it was a matter of “intercession” from Andreev’s camp and of “demanding a certain result”. Radkov, however, denied drawing a parallel with this case.

Radostin Radkov: No, I don’t mean that. I mean that for these 10 years, even more, there is no colleague who can say that the President has asked him for something that is not right, something that we have no right to talk about. I do not comment on any of my other colleagues, I just say for myself what I know. In connection with your question whether I guess or not, there can be many guarantors, because many people have tried to influence this big court. I am convinced that even in the smallest provincial court the situation is no different, although it is on a smaller scale. It’s just that in Bulgaria there is an attitude among people who have power, but do not understand the law and confuse the prosecutor’s office with the court. They confuse the fact that the prosecutor has a higher prosecutor above him, who can guide him and control his actions, but this is not the case in court. In court, the president of a court is the organizer of the work. The rest of the judges do not depend on him for anything. The only thing that an ordinary judge depends on his president is whether he will sign his application for leave in time. In court, the president develops the living conditions, all things that have nothing to do with the principle of unity of command, which principle, laid down in the socialist law, exists in the prosecutor’s office. But people from the outside do not understand these things and believe that when they start pressuring a chairman and if he succumbs to this chairman, everything will happen to them. Or if they put a convenient chairman of a judicial body, everything will happen to them by itself. If such a person exists – a colleague who has promised influential people “I can provide you with everything in this court if you elect me as president”, he has either openly lied to them or has some problem with his own head. There is no way this thing can happen. Yes, you can find a number of people who are inclined, but if this chairman does not find the right people who are willing to perform such services, he cannot perform such services as those I have mentioned. If this chairman is a person who does not make such commitments and does not want to perform such services, usually things happen to him. In this case, in the context of our conversation, he is included in a list where he does not belong.

Beyond the case of the “list” Radostin Radkov practically alerts about a much more serious problem. The judge made it clear that he and his colleagues were subject to systematic pressure from authorized persons And apparently some of the administrative heads and ordinary judges succumb to this pressure in order to guarantee peace of mind, career development, financial prosperity or all this in a bunch. Radkov’s words indirectly confirm the theses of many judges and even prosecutors in the last two years, who have sounded the alarm about serious interference of the political authorities in the work of the court and the prosecutor’s office. Остава отворен въпроса дали “ the list of magistrates who, in violation of the law, have not declared properties and accounts abroad” was prepared by Sotir Tsatsarov or, less likely, by Ivan Geshev in order to manipulate specific magistrates or was simply compiled in the performance of their official duties.

Lead photo: Judge Radostin Radkov (left), Ivan Geshev and Sotir Tsatsarov (right). Collage: BIRD.BG

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