Sofia - Bulgaria's government on Monday named former counter-espionage chief Tsvetlin Jovchev as the new head of the powerful anti-corruption agency DANS.

Jovchev, 45, replaced Petko Sertov in the position a month after parliamentary elections led to a change of leadership in the Balkan country. Sertov reportedly stepped down due to the erosion of Western trust in Bulgaria in the face of the country's rampant corruption.

The conservative GERB party of former police official and Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov swept the corruption-dogged Socialist-led coalition from power.

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, but a year later lost one billion dollars' worth of aid out of Brussels through financial abuse.

DANS was set up in late 2007 in a merger of several security agencies to combat corruption and organized crime. (dpa)