Former Bulgarian PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Involved in Italian Corruption Scandal.

Bulgarian prosecutors have asked Italy for information on reports the ex-prime minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg, the former king, is involved in a royal corruption scandal there, officials said on Monday.

Media have reported Italian magistrates are investigating whether Saxe-Coburg promised to help an associate of his cousin Victor Emmanuel to win a construction tender and contracts with Bulgarian telecoms firms in exchange for cash and favours. Saxe-Coburg and his ruling party have denied the allegations.

Emmanuel, the 69-year-old son of Italy’s last king, was arrested last week in an operation focusing on suspected graft and prostitution connected with a northern Italian casino.
“For the moment we have no grounds to launch preliminary legal proceedings,” said Boiko Naidenov, spokesman of Bulgaria’s prosecution office.

“We have asked the Italian authorities to provide us with the evidence so we can decide whether a crime was committed by a Bulgarian citizen or not.”

Naidenov also said Sofia would ask permission to send several Bulgarian prosecutors to Italy to look into the case.

Saxe-Coburg has yet to address the issue in Bulgaria but told Italian daily La Stampa at the weekend: “I am disappointed and hurt that my name is being used with no reason whatsoever... one cannot so easily throw mud in somebody’s face.”

His centrist NMS party has yet to release a statement, but its ministers said there is no evidence of a crime.“I see no grounds to speak about a Sofia connection. I am convinced Bulgaria and the NMS will do everything possible to clear up the case,” EU Integration Minister Meglena Kuneva told daily Trud.

Saxe-Coburg, exiled by the communists after World War II, returned to sweep 2001 elections and become Europe’s only ex-royal to be elected prime minister.

He oversaw booming growth but faced anger over persistent graft and low living standards. He lost to the Socialists in elections last year and became a junior ruling partner.

Support for the NMS has nose-dived to only around 3.0% in opinion polls - from 20% in last year’s vote - and analysts said the current scandal could hurt any potential presidential bid in elections this autumn.

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