European Prosecutor suspends Bulgarian member pending probe

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has temporarily suspended its Bulgarian member Teodora Georgieva pending the outcome of an administrative inquiry, the EPPO said in an emailed statement.

On Tuesday the EPPO said it had informed the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission that it was investigating Georgieva having opened an inquiry into possible wrongdoing, without elaborating.

In today’s emailed statement, the EPPO said “it has implemented the full spectrum of internal measures to safeguard the integrity of its investigations.”

“As the strongest measure available against any risk or perception of compromised integrity of investigations, the supervising Bulgarian European Prosecutor has been temporarily suspended,” the emailed statement said, adding: “This is without prejudice to the outcome of the administrative enquiry.”

The EPPO is the EU’s independent public prosecution office and is responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes against the financial interests of the bloc, the office said no further details will be made public at this stage.

“We have seen the reports,” a Commission spokesperson told Euronews, adding that “the Commission has been informed of the launch of an administrative enquiry by the European Public Prosecutors Office.”

“The EPPO is fully independent from the Commission, from other institutions and bodies of the Union, and from the Member States. It is for the EPPO to decide whether to suspend a European Prosecutor that is subject to an administrative enquiry. We have no comment to offer at this stage,” the spokesperson added.