Romanian businessman Ovidiu Semenescu was allegedly involved in the assassination attempt of Bulgaria’s Prosecutor General Ivan Gesev, who escaped unharmed on Monday after a device exploded while driving his official car, the Bulgarian press reports. Semenescu, who was investigated and detained by DNA in a corruption case in Switzerland in 2015, responded in a message sent to Antena 3 in which he denied any involvement and said he was seeking “justice in international courts” so that he defended himself from the “initiated mafia of the Bulgarian judiciary”.

According to the Bulgarian mass media, the Romanian businessman Ovidiu Semenescu was also involved in the conspiracy to kill the Prosecutor General of Bulgaria.

“I hate being a victim of a justice system controlled by organized crime in Bulgaria”

Ovidiu Semenescu reacted through a message sent by Antena 3, in which he denied any involvement in the assassination of the Prosecutor General, Ivan Geshev.

• “I am a respectable businessman who has never been convicted, no matter how much someone would like it.
• My problems in Bulgaria stemmed from my refusal to cooperate with the institutionalized mafia in that country.
• I am not hiding in Switzerland, I live in this country. The fact that I defend myself with solid evidence and do not tolerate being a victim of a justice system controlled by organized crime in Bulgaria only makes the mafia controlled by Ivan Gesev even more brutal,” Ovidiu Semenescu said in an interview with Antena 3.

He also said that he believes “in fair justice” and seeks “justice in international courts” to “protect himself from the mafia that has developed in the Bulgarian judicial system.”

Who is Ovidiu Semenescu?

Ovidiu Semenescu was accused of belonging to a group that allegedly blackmailed politicians from Sofia. The names of the parliamentarians appear in a report that the Bulgarian authorities prepared for the European Commission, and it related to the smuggling of Bulgartabak cigarettes, which finances terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State, Al-Nusra, the PKK and the Bashar al-Assad regime, according to Free Europe .

Semenescu would then be under general investigation, while the second Romanian, Dorin Iordake, and the Bulgarian were arrested in Bulgaria in September 2019, Europa Liberă also wrote.

Ovidiu Semenescu was detained by the DNA in September 2015 together with Costin Berevoianu, a former adviser to Sorin Oprescu, and former PNL treasurer Vlad Moisescu in a case of influence buying and influence trading in connection with the Apa Nova Bucharest tariff hike.

Rise Project wrote that Ovidiu Semenescu has businesses in real estate, gambling, HORECA, tourism, media and advertising, as he is known for being the financier of the business channel Money.ro TV, as well as a street paving business that it was carried out by Euromedia. .

Attempted attack on the Prosecutor General of Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor, Ivan Gesev, was unharmed on Monday after a device exploded while driving his official car. Bulgarian prosecutors announced they were investigating the explosion as an act of terrorism, although the Interior Ministry spoke only of an “incident”.

Petar Todorov, secretary general of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said no one was injured in the incident on the road between Samokov and Kovachevtsi, in the direction of Sofia.

• “The bomb was clearly intended for murder. It was not aimed at intimidation, there were no fireworks,” said Deputy Prosecutor, Director of the National Investigative Service Boryslav Sarafov, adding that Geshev’s family was in the car.

Sarafov also stated that the device contained approximately three kilograms of explosives.