investigations, leaks, censorship, corruption, mafia and government

Assen Yordanov 15/05/2013

“Freedom and Pluralism of Traditional and New Media” Florence, 13-17

May 2013

Investigations, leaks,

censorship,

corruption, mafia and

government

About Bivol

• Assen Yordanov & Atanas Tchobanov:

started Bivol.bg - investigative

journalism web site in 2010;

• Frontal of Balkanleaks – journalists

consortium modeled after the

Wikileaks example;

•Wikileaks partner in Bulgaria since

March 2011;

• Bivol.bg is funded only by donations by

the readers.

The Context: We

work in a Mafia

State in EU!

European Union

11th CVM Report on Bulgaria

July 2012

•The reform process has not built the

momentum needed to become an accepted part

of Bulgaria's development.

•The fact that external pressure is still

necessary raises questions about the

sustainability and irreversibility of change.

The Bulgarian Exception:

Organized Crime feeds corruption in

Bulgaria. The country was ruled and

is ruled now by true criminals;

This is possible because

of the Western Realpolitik: Political

«Doublethink» and «Our-Son-of-a-

Bitch» doctrine.

The Context: Since Bulgaria

is an EU member media

freedom worsened!

Bulgaria even has collapsed 7 ranks down,

evidenced by the yesterday’s report of RSF

Political instability puts journalists in the eye of the storm

Political instability often has a divisive effect on the media and makes it very difficult

to produce independently-reported news and information. In such situations, threats

and physical attacks on journalists and staff purges are common.

(Auto) Censorship

Example

«A former Head of the CIA, confirmed for Taz that SIMO and the CIA are the same thing. "SIMO is an administrative term for the CIA, actually used only for internal purposes, and as such, it should not have been used in the cables.» «Would Borisov have remained in office if the American secret service CIA had declared itself a key witness in the allegations against the Prime Minister?»

Prime Minister Borisov

Exposed...

The Document:

06SOFIA647 on

Wikileaks.org

The Comment:

Tageszeitung

ALDE Hearing on "Media Freedom in Bulgaria" 06 June 2012 Assen Yordanov www.bivol.bg contact@bivol.bg

Tageszeitung

• On 30/05/2012 the German newspaper Tageszeitung reported a story based

on US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks. The story revealed a

codename for the CIA, found in many top secret cables - SIMO.

The Document:

06SOFIA647

Information

from SIMO?

Tageszeitung

revealed

SIMO=CIA

PM Borisov - major drug

trafficker, CIA says

Deutsche Welle 31/05/2012

• The article was translated and published in Bulgarian on

Deutsche Welle4с web site, then published by the BGNES news

agency and by Novinite news agency in English.

One week later... • One of the most popular and commented stories on the Bulgarian

internet

• More than 3000 Google references

VESTI.BG

06/06/2012 Most Commented

International coverage

In the classic media

• No such story on TV;

• No such story by any other

news agency: BTA, Focus;

• No such story on Radio;

• No such story in

newspapers (3 exceptions);

• Try a search: симо цру

борисов site:bnt.bg They are the 99%

The silent ones...

ALDE Hearing on "Media Freedom in Bulgaria" 06 June 2012 Assen Yordanov www.bivol.bg contact@bivol.bg

But why?

Tell it publicly and you loose your job?

How we work?

• Classic investigations – public registries,

meeting sources, hidden camera…;

• New technologies – Wikileaks like

submission via TOR (Balkanleaks);

• Anonymous submission is essential for

whistleblowers in the Bulgarian context.

The “Buddha Files”

Confirming Borissov

criminal background

The “Buddha Files”

In 1997 The Antimafia Squad opens the

Case of Operative Surveillance

« Buddha » to investigate the

« priority criminal orientation » of Boyko

Borissov

Balkanleaks platform

All documents from the file have leaked

anonymously through Bivol's platform

Balkanleaks, which is modeled after

the famous WikiLeaks, and have been

revealed for the very first time.

International Coverage

Buddha is confirming

previous Bulgarian Police

records

In 1995

Borisov owned

a factory for

contraband

cigarettes

Current Bulgarian PM Borisov’s

criminal past is exposed by

multiple sources and witnesses.

European and world leaders were

warned!

International Media Warnings:

In 2007 an article in «Congressional

Quarterly» quotes an FBI officer

saying about Borisov:

“...the U.S. government made a terrible choice

in who to go to bed with in Bulgaria.

“What the hell — we seem to take help from

anyone, however dirty, in the ‘war on terror.’ ”

The CQ article

Written by prominent journalist Jeff

Stein the article quotes a 200-page

confidential report prepared for a

Swiss bank. The core pages of this

report were first and only published

by Bivol.bg

We submitted all the

evidence about Borisov

to the Bulgarian

Prosecutor’s Office but

they refused to open an

investigation.

We submitted all the

evidence to the CRIM

Committee and they

refused a hearing. We

believe this was a

politically biased

decision.

A violent smear campaign was

launched against Bivol.bg

after we published the Buddha

Files.

US Ambassador in Sofia John

Beyrle wrote on Bulgarian PM

Boyko Borisov in 2006:

«We should continue

to push him in the

right direction, but

never forget who

we’re dealing with».

The Document:

06SOFIA647

The Document:

08SOFIA631

OLAF:

«If Bulgaria brings

down Bozhkov,

that would be

progress»

Leaks revealed also European

money abuse!

In 2007 the ALDE group

organized an exhibition of

Bozhkov’s art collection in

the European Parliament

2012 - «Bulgaria’s most

infamous gangster Vasil

Bozhkov, aka «The Skull» is

still constructing the

«Trakia» highway with

European money.

That’s progress, indeed...

The Document:

09SOFIA508

So, the State Department knew, EU

and OLAF knew, the CIA knew, BND

knew, MI6 knew...

(KGB knew it before them)

Because of the “leaks” and

journalistic investigations

the citizens

know more about

the entrails of corruption and

the state-mafia nexus...

And they also know that their

governments knew.

References

• Transparency International, «Corruption Perceptions Index» 2007-2011,

http://www.transparency.org

• Reporters Without Borders, «Media Freedom Ranking» 2005-2011,

http://www.rsf.org

• World Justice Project, «Rule of Law Index» 2012

http://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index-data

• Moses Naim, «Mafia States», Foreign Affairs, April 2012

http://www.moisesnaim.com/writings/mafia-states

• European Commission, «On Progress in Bulgaria under the Cooperation and

Verification Mechanism» (11th CVM Report )

Thank you!

contact@bivol.bg