(SOFIA) - Bulgaria will not allow the misappropriation of money from European Union funds, President Georgy Parvanov said Sunday after a corruption scandal prompted the EU to freeze subsidy payments for infrastructure.

"Let one thing be clear: we have firm commitments to defend (the proper use of) our taxpayers' as well as the European taxpayers' money. We cannot compromise with that," Parvanov said.

The European Commission froze EU subsidy payments to Bulgaria after two officials at the country's road agency were arrested and put under investigation for allegedly demanding a 50,000-leva (25,000-euro, 37,000-dollar) pay-off to authorise construction on agricultural land that borders a major cross-country highway.

Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev insisted no European funds had been misappropriated in this case, but Sofia police chief Rumen Stoyanov said Friday that asking for bribes might have been "a regular practice" for the two officials.

"The swift reaction by the interior ministry and the prosecution show that there will be no compromises. I hope that the European Commission will examine the case from this particular angle: there will be no untouchables in Bulgaria," Parvanov said Sunday.

Interior Minister Rumen Petkov meanwhile criticised the freezing of funds by the European Commission, which has always urged Bulgaria to combat high-level corruption.

"When we open an inquiry into high-ranking officials, they answer with the provisionary suspension of subsidy payments," Petkov told state radio Sunday.

Petkov added that he would press for the measure to be lifted during a meeting Tuesday in Brussels with European Interior and Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.