Sofia, October 5 (BTA) - The National Revenue Agency (NRA) Tuesday said it has requested additional data from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington about Bulgarian natural and legal persons who feature in the newly published Pandora Papers investigation. According to bird.bg, the Bulgarian partner in the international investigation, two Bulgarian politicians feature in the Papers and one of them is controversial businessman and former member of Parliament Delyan Peevski.

The other has not been named as yet.

Published by the ICIJ on October 3, the Pandora Papers expose the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders and hundreds of politicians in more than 90 counties.

In an official letter to the consortium, NRA has requested information on the Bulgarian citizens and companies that could potentially have committed violations or crimes against the country's financial system, in order to assign tax audits.

The NRA said that they could initiate inspections or audits in cases where there is information about tax evasion or avoidance. The Agency also announced that they will compare the data on the Pandora files with the information received under the international exchange, in which Bulgaria receives reports on property and income of Bulgarian persons abroad, the release says.

During a visit to the southern town of Stara Zagora Tuesday, President Rumen Radev commented that the revelations of the Panama Papers don't speak well of the Bulgarian investigative and law-enforcing authorities. "Obviously Mr Peevski's deeds are more visible abroad than they are here in Bulgaria," said the President.

Peevski has been suspected of involvement in a number of scandals in Bulgaria, including the failure of Bulgaria's fourth biggest lender, Corpbank, but probes have never found anything on him. DS/MT/LN