This was the conclusion reached by a panel of the SCAC in a case brought by Mirela Veselinova (from the newspaper Capital) against the tacit refusal of the Commission for Anti- Corruption and the Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property (CAFIAP).
With a request submitted on 29 March 2024, Mirela Veselinova requested the following information:
- What was the amount of the basic and gross remunerations of the chairperson and the members of CAFIAP (separately) before the coming into effect of the legal amendments that split the Commission into two separate legal entities? What was the basis for determining these salaries?;
- What is the amount of the basic and gross remunerations of the chairperson and the members of the Commission for the Forfeiture of Illegally Acquired Property (CFIAP) (separately) from October 6 to date, and what is the basis for the payment of these remunerations?;
- What is the amount of the basic and gross remunerations of the chairperson and the members of the Anti-Corruption Commission (AC) from October 6 to date, and what is the basis for the payment of these remunerations? and
- Is there any duplication of remuneration for functions performed in the two commissions, or not?
No response was received in the legally prescribed 14-day period, and the tacit refusal was appealed with the support of AIP.
With Judgment No. 13787/2 August 2024 of the SCAC, Second Division, panel 32, on administrative case No. 4872/2023, Judge Krasimira Milachkova repealed the tacit refusal and returned the case to the AC for an explicit decision on the request.
The court held that the tacit refusal to a request for access to public information is unlawful. The only legally recognized option for processing a request is for the obliged body to issue an explicit decision within the time frame set in Article 28, par. 1 of the APIA, either granting or refusing access to the requested information.
The court judgment is final.
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The publication is part of the project "Legal Help to Strategic Access to Information Cases". This project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. All publications in the frames of the project are funded by the United States Agency for International Development and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Access to Information Programme Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or GMF.