A parliamentary committee in Bulgaria is to investigage money-laundering allegations surrounding Hristo Damyanov Biserov.

A parliamentary committee in Bulgaria is to investigage money-laundering allegations surrounding Hristo Damyanov Biserov, the parliament's former chairman. He is thought to have colluded with an alleged criminal called Biser Milanov, also known as "the Stain." He is also suspected of using his position to acquire economic information from the security services and passing it on to acquisitive criminals.

Watchlists might usefully include not only Biserov's name but also that of the former interior minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, who will be questioned about whether he knew of Biserov's alleged conduct during his tenure at the ministry. In Tsvetanov's own words, the investigation is to focus on large cross-border money-flows. Biserov has resigned from certain posts in the party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms which has added its voice to demands for an ad hoc committee, but it is not known whether he has resigned from the party itself.

Such was the parliamentary backlash against Biserov that the vote to set up the investigatory committee was almost unanimous. A politician called Volen Siderov, meanwhile, has asked Rosen Plevneliev, the Bulgarian President, to set aside his immunity from prosecution in order to be investigated for money-laundering involving large transfers.