BULGARIA’S ASSETS FORFEITURE COMMISSION SEEKS RESTRAINT OF ASSETS OF FORMER CORPBANK OWNER TSVETAN VASSILEV TO THE VALUE OF MORE THAN 2 BILLION BGN

Bulgaria’s Commission for Illegal Assets Forfeiture (CIAF) said on 17th of March that it sought restraint of assets worth 2 billion and 200 million BGN, belonging to the former majority shareholder of insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank.

However, CIAF said it identified assets at the value of only 1 and a half biilion BGN, which it asked  Sofia City Court to restrain, The assets include properties owned by Vassilev in Bulgaria’s cities of Sofia, Sozopol, Burgas and in Switzerland, as well as bank accounts, shares and paintings.

CIAF has the right to seek assets acquired only in the period of the past ten years and although there is data about assets, which were illegally acquired by Tsvetan Vassilev before the year 2004, these assets cannot be seized, the Head of CIAF, Plamen Georgiev, said.

Six tonnes is the weight of the evidence, which the asset forfeiture commission collected for a year and a half about illegally acquired assets by Tsvetan Vassilev. 28,000 pages were presented to the court and it now depends on its decision whether one  and a half billion BGN would be seized in favour of the state.

This is the first time in Bulgaria, and may be in Europe, that a claim of such size is filed to the court, CIAF commented. According to them there is indisputable evidence that the properties at the value of 2 billion and 200 million BGN were illegally acquired by the former banker through schemes of unsecured loans from Corporate Commercial Bank.

However, for about 700 million BGN from those 2 billion, the asset forfeiture commission could not find where they disappeared. No collateral was identified for this amount and even if the court rules in favour of CIAF, the money is unlikely to be recovered for the state budget, the Head of CIAF commented.