Prime Minister Kiril Petkov made a statement on Facebook regarding last night’s arrest of former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and other GERB party members.

• Police hold GERB leader Boyko Borissov in custody for 24 hours (update)
  

“The action taken by the Ministry of the Interior demonstrates that no one is above the law in Bulgaria. I myself gave testimony. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched a probe, but where is the Bulgarian prosecutor’s office, and is it going to stand with the Bulgarian people at long last, that is something we shall see in the days to come.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev deniedthere had beenany repressions during the arrests. According to Minister Vassilev, the budget has been defrauded of 555 million Leva (EUR 270 million), and this has been referred to the prosecutor’s office, adding that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has also been notified.

Deputy Prime Minister Korneliya Ninova stated that she expects the investigation to do its job, and denied any prior knowledge of last night’s arrests, stating they were not political repression.

President Rumen Radev commented from Stara Zagora that he does not interfere with the work of the investigators. "Justice shall not prevail until the court has had its say," the President said. 

The opposition GERB party, the ruling We Continue the Change and the Bulgarian Socialist Party read out declarations in parliament, during which there was an altercation near the speaking platform and tension mounted. National Assembly President Nikola Minchev gave a 20-minute break. The GERB party MPs walked out of parliament and joined the protest in front of the Council of Ministers building, where protesters had blocked traffic in the centre of Sofia. The participants in the protest later set out for the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior.