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Atanas and Plamen Bobokovi
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Former Washington’s first diplomats in Sofia, James Pardew and Roderick Moore, are also committed to defending the interests of Bulgarian businessmen accused of hazardous waste trade, according to a specialized American publication.
The specialized American edition Foreign Lobby Report (the edition is paid, but see the link) reports in its weekly newsletter that the critical attitude towards Bulgaria of the two US senators – Democrat Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Jim Rich, the senior Republican in the same committee, appeared thanks to the lobbying campaign in defense of the defendants in our country, businessmen Atanas and Plamen Bobokovi.
In the summer of 2020, another American publication, Politico, announced that the Bobokovs had hired the lobbying company Alexandria Group International of the former American diplomat Marshall Harris in connection with the accusations against them for import of hazardous waste from Italy and their burial in Bulgaria. According to the information, the initial term of the contract was six months, but it seems to have been extended.
The bulletin with lobbying news of the Foreign Lobby Report states that the statement of Senators Menendez and Rish for Bulgaria was preceded by a video conference held on February 22 with former US diplomats in Bulgaria. The participation of the two influential senators was ensured by Bobokovi’s lobbyist.
“The discussion was organized by Marshall Harris, whose Alexandria Group International lobbies on behalf of Bulgarian businessmen, subject to criminal charges that they claim are fabricated,” the paper said. Harris himself confirmed to Foreign Lobby Report that former US ambassadors to Bulgaria James Pardew and Roderick Moore were involved in the conversation with the senators.
Pardew and Moore’s presence in Harris’s campaign in defense of the Bobokovs is not surprising, given their long acquaintance. While active diplomats, all three have professional commitments at almost the same time in the Balkans. Moore was even Pardew’s deputy for a time while he headed the US mission in Sofia, and in 2015 he was interim governor.
It is noteworthy that after several years of absence from public life in our country, shortly after hiring an American lobbying company from Bobokovi, the respected diplomat James Pardew gave several interviews and published an author’s article in foreign and Bulgarian media in which he expressed the same critical remarks. and in the position of both Senators Menendez and Rish.
Described by the Foreign Lobby Report as a “successful” lobbying action in defense of Bobokov in the US Senate, coincides with the time when the two brothers and their accomplices, including former Deputy Environment Minister Krassimir Zhivkov, received the accusations from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office. on the Garbagegate affair. The case is extremely interesting because it turned out that the Italian prosecutor’s office “Antimafia” was also involved in the investigation, and three of the alleged accomplices of Bobokovi have already pleaded guilty and are ready to testify about the committed violations.
The brothers Atanas and Plamen Bobokovi are not the only clients with problems with justice of the lobbying company Alexandria Group International. Another publication of the Foreign Lobby Report shows that Marshall Harris has been hired as a lobbyist for another famous Bulgarian businessman – the alcoholic boss Minyu Staykov. There are two cases against Staykov before the Specialized Criminal Court. One of which is fraud with European Union funds.
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