Longtime readers will remember my columns on the endemic official corruption that engulfs Bulgaria, the Bush administration's latest ally in the war on terror.
Bulgarian officials, in particular the main target of my stories, Sofia mayor Boris Borissov, a former top Interior Ministry official, ridiculed my allegations, which were largely based on a confidential report on the country's finances by a foreign bank.
But today the European Union, which admitted Bulgaria to its ranks hardly more than 18 months ago, announced it was turning off the aid spigot to Sofia because of high level corruption.
There is no word yet whether the Bush administration will follow suit.
As I reported in June 2007, the U.S. has quietly opened three military bases in Bulgaria.
The U.S. also finances Bulgaria's National Institute for Justice, which trains prosecutors and judges to combat organized crime, and U.S. terrorism finance specialists are working closely with a new Bulgarian bank watchdog unit.
But according to an internal memo from an the EU's Anti-Fraud Office, obtained by the Sofia Echo newspaper, the corruption goes right to the top of the Bulgarian political establishment, involving close associates of the president, Georgi Purvanov.
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