Petar Iliev Todorov

Public record

Compiled from publications and official records as of 18.10.2026. Every statement links to its source; claims made by others are marked as such, with who makes them. Quotations in English are our translation.

Communist Party and State Security

• His father. A 24 Chasa headline reads: “Long-serving Plovdiv MVR officer Col. Iliya Todorov, father of the former chief secretary Petar Todorov, has died” (our translation). — 24 Chasa, 08.2026
• His father in the MVR. According to an obituary on Plovdiv24.bg, Iliya Petrov Todorov (b. 1942) was deputy head of the Plovdiv District MVR Directorate for “People’s Militia” (1984–1991) and served in the MVR from 1963 to 1991. He graduated from the MVR Higher Special School in Moscow (1968–1971) and the MVR leadership academy in Moscow (1980–1982). The obituary does not mention his son; the link comes from 24 Chasa. — Plovdiv24.bg, 03.08.2026
• His father, 1990s. In 2021 24 Chasa wrote that Todorov is “one of the doyens of the Plovdiv police, which his father also headed in the 1990s” (our translation; the full text requires registration and only the introduction was read). The father’s obituary (see above) gives MVR service until 1991. — 24 Chasa, 06.08.2021
• State Security. In April 2026 Mediapool wrote that, according to the Dossier Commission’s check of parliamentary candidates, Petar Iliev Todorov, third on the Progressive Bulgaria list in Plovdiv, “turned out to be an intelligence officer of the former State Security (DS)” (our translation). According to Mediapool, the topic of candidates’ State Security links was first raised by PP chairman Asen Vasilev. — Mediapool, 07.04.2026
• The 1989 order. According to Dir.bg, the document on which the Dossier Commission based its finding is “an order of 29 September 1989 appointing him as an intelligence officer” (our translation). Dir.bg also writes that he had been declared before, in 2010, but appears on the list for the first time as a political candidate. — Dir.bg, 07.04.2026

Corruption and scandals

• Request for removal. In August 2023 Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov asked for the removal of chief secretary Todorov, holding him responsible for the deaths of six MVR officers and for a lack of organisation under which crime rose from 2021 to the end of May 2023. President Radev refused to issue the decree, calling the motives “entirely political” and the request a “continuation of the full-scale purge” in the MVR (our translation). — RFE/RL, 24.08.2023
• “Bushido”. After the police raid of 6 May 2023 on the Plovdiv club “Bushido”, Sega wrote that chief secretary Petar Todorov promised the internal check of the case would be thorough. The article does not name him as having ordered the raid. — Sega, 21.05.2023
• Customs. In April 2024, before the temporary customs inquiry committee, Todorov said he had seen Stefan Dimitrov, accused of smuggling, in the MVR building, where he came for meetings with the then minister Boyko Rashkov. Rashkov admitted the meetings but said they concerned other cases and that he did not then know Dimitrov was part of the criminal contingent. — RFE/RL, 23.04.2024
• Borisov’s arrest. Witness Yavor Simov, head of the MVR press centre under minister Boyko Rashkov, told the Sofia City Court in the case against Kiril Petkov (defendant over the 2022 detention of Boyko Borisov) that Todorov, then chief secretary, had not known of the arrest in advance; Simov quoted Todorov’s words the next day: “How are you doing this without it being reported to me?” (our translation; via BNR). According to Sega, Todorov is to testify in the case on 27 October. — Sega, 28.09.2026