Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - GERB leader and former prime minister Boyko Borissov Thursday entered National Police Chief Directorate for questioning, as he himself told reporters earlier this week.  He was accompanied by lawyer Menko Menkov.  
  
Supporters and members of GERB with banners in support of Borissov had gathered in front of the police headquarters. Mixed Martial Arts Federation Chairman Stanislav "Staki" Nedkov, as well as the former interior minister and GERB MP candidate Mladen Marinov were among the supporters. When the GERB leader arrived, the group began to chant "Boyko" and "We're waiting for you".
   
Less than an hour later, Borissov emerged and told media he had been summoned and questioned about things that happened in 2009-2012, all of which had boiled down to “someone heard something, someone said something”. Menkov only added that those had been “fabrications of 13 years ago” and that there was no evidence against the former prime minister.

At a news conference after he received the summons on Tuesday, Borissov said he had been summond to appear for questioning at the National Police and [jokingly] expressed hope he would get out alive, if at all, and even said he could be detained.

Before that, caretaker Interior Minister Boiko Rashkov declared Borissov would be checked in relation to an alert involving pressurizing a witness. He added that the former prime minister had threatened a businessman that his family would not be aware if they were not eating his meat. In Rashkov's words, the witness explained that after the threat from Borissov, he was forced to appear before a judge again to say that he did not support the testimony he had given before. There was evidence in the case of crimes committed by one of Borissov's ministers.

It turned out that the investigation for which Borissov was summoned on Thursday concerned a recording of a conversation at Borissov’s house in Bankya, near Sofia. The conversation leaked to the media in April 2013, was between Borissov, the then charged with corruption, coercion and malpractice former minister of agriculture in Borissov’s first cabinet, Miroslav Naydenov,  and Sofia City Prosecutor Nikolai Kokinov.
   
The charges against Naydenov were raised for a bribe of 200,000 leva promised to the head of the State Fund Agriculture, Svetoslav Simeonov, in 2009. The prosecution says the aim was to make Simeonov sign payment orders for illegal VAT refunds to the companies V.D.V. 007 EOOD and Melcom OOD.
   
During the conversation in the said recording, Borissov turns to Kokinov and asks what the developments about the investigation of Miroslav Naydenov are. The prosecutor explains that the witness on the case has changed his statement. It becomes clear from the conversation that the witness in question is the former head of Agriculture Fund, Svetoslav Simeonov. According to media investigation, Svetoslav Naidenov is also the recipient of the threats mentioned by Rashkov.

In the said recording Kokinov complained of the then prosecutor general, Sotir Tsatsarov, telling Borissov “Don’t smirk at me! You chose him.”
   
The leaked recording is remembered by the public as evidence of political interference in the selection of prosecutor general. It was precisely because of this conversation that Kokinov resigned as Sofia City Prosecutor in 2013.
   
Both Naydenov and Kokinov were summoned for questioning in mid-June./NV/BR