The Anti-Corruption Commission/the Commission for the Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property, owing to their refusal to provide access to their decisions on claims for forfeiture of illegally acquired property in the period from 2018 to the beginning of 2022. Following the instigation of legal proceedings, the court held that the decisions of the Commission for Anti-Corruption and the Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property cannot be considered an administrative secret and must be disclosed. The CAFIAP filed an action to invalidate the court judgment, but it was dismissed. In 2024, the CFIAP (the new name of the Commission) once again refused access to the same information, stating that it constituted personal data and another type of protected secret, although the court had already held otherwise. In addition, in view of the Commission’s division into two separate legal entities (AC and CFIAP) having the same members, both institutions remain silent on the questions(submitted in an information requested under the APIA) of whether their members are receiving two salaries for their participation in each of the two new commissions, what the size of their gross salaries is and how it is calculated.

The „dishonourary“ diploma went to

The Petrich Municipality – in his response to an information request under the APIA, the Mayor of Petrich pointed out that the requestor, the association “Taxi club-Bulgaria,” was registered in Sofia, but was seeking information regarding the municipal budget and the fees and taxes collected from a taxi service in Petrich. According to the Public Finance Act, the scope of persons that have a right to control the respective municipal budget and seek information regarding funds from that budget and their expenditure is limited to “the local community,” meaning citizens registered in the territory of the respective municipality. It is, however, absurd to make an assessment based on the residence of the requestor, given that the right to information is guaranteed to every citizen, foreigner and even stateless person.

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Right-to-Know Day 2024 Campaign and Ceremony is run within the project Access to Information and Transparency Advice Center supported by a grant from America for Bulgaria Fondation. The statements and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the Access to Information Programme and do not necessarily reflect the views of teh America for Bulgaria Foundation or its affiliates.