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The main shareholders in First Investment Bank (FIB) Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev are the ultimate owners of offshore companies that have received large loans from the bank. This is shown by documents found in the “Pandora Papers” (Pandora Papers), said Bird.bg showed some of them. It is understood from the publication that these are companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, the data are as of 2017 and some of them are companies that own “Yulen”, “Vitosha Ski”, “Nadin” (recycling), companies related with “PST group” (road construction). The data also confirm the connection of Minev and Mutafchiev with the Cypriot citizen Georgios Georgiou (recipient of millions of loans from Fibank).
In the documents discovered so far, a letter-reference about Delyan Peevski as a “correct, reliable and respected client” of the bank appears, as well as other connections between companies and people connecting the bankers with the candidate for MRF MP.
The investigative website, which is the Bulgarian partner of an international journalism consortium, estimates the loans of the offshore companies at around BGN 1 billion. “There is already evidence that the two bankers have distributed to themselves in the form of loans not only all the bank’s own capital, but also another 500 million of the depositors’ money,” bird.bg claims.
Asked by Dnevnik, Fibank denied all these connections with their main shareholders and explained that “the companies on the list are a copy of a list of companies published by Bivol back in 2014.” The bank states that Minev and Mutafchiev are not ultimate owners in any of the cited companies.
The saga with George Georgiou, confirmed by the Pandora’s Files
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Due to a change in legislation requiring the establishment of a register of final owners, the registrar of offshore companies Trident Trust has requested information on the actual owners of companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. On this occasion, he corresponded with the Cypriot law firm G. Papadopoulos & Co. And emails between them are found in the Pandora’s Files and show that Georgios Georgiou is a shareholder, but the real owners are Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev (see the parts of documents in the photos attached by bird.bg).
The Cypriot citizen is famous in Bulgaria after it became known in 2014 that he is the owner of many Cypriot companies that own companies – large borrowers from Fibank. Georgios Georgiou had turned out to be the owner of Yulen AD, Vitosha Ski, OK Supertrans taxis and other companies. Later, their ownership was changed, but some offshore companies re-established ties with the two Bulgarians.
Apart from Georgiou, there are other persons appointed as formal owners of the offshore companies, whose real owners are the main shareholders in Fibank, bird.bg also reports, but does not indicate specific names of persons.
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– In addition to the owner of the Cypriot law firm, George Papadopoulos, Ellora Management Limited, “Pandora” show that the final beneficiaries there (as the term is used) are Minev and Mutafchiev. And Ellora Management Limited is the owner of Vitosha Ski AD and Aleko Sport – 99 AD, also credited by Fibank.
Which other offshore companies come out of the Pandora Files
From leaked documents according to bird.bg, it is understood that and T.A.K. Services Limited, owner of Yulen AD as of 2017, was with real owners Minev and Mutafchiev according to data from the “files”. In 2018, Marc Girardelli introduced himself as the owner of the concessionaire of the ski slopes in Bansko, who announced that he has been such since 2016 and has acquired the company from a fund.
The site publishes a table with offshore companies for which there is data from “Pandora” and which are owned in Bulgarian companies, credited by Fibank.
Among them are Toleedo Associates Limited (owner of Nadine Metals Trade), Nyquilla Developments Limited (owner of Heavy Metals), also owned by bankers.
For the two companies, “Capital” reminds that after the transfer at the very end of 2018 “Hefty Metals”, which has BGN 41.2 million in liabilities to Fibank, turns out to be owned directly by its director Filip Georgiev, and the debt to Fibank Nadin Hold is now owned by Nikolay Binev, according to LinkedIn. worked at Hefty Metals before becoming Nadin’s CEO in 2014. “
The list also includes Adorna Management Limited.
And for Galiano Worldwide Services, and for Kokeitha Group Limited, “Thanks to the Pandora Files, today we know that the main shareholders in Fibank are Minev and Mutafchiev,” bird.bg writes. The first offshore company was the owner of PST Group until 2014, when it moved to another offshore company. And Kokeitha Group was the owner of the second shareholder until the same year in the road construction company – “DVTG Bulgaria”.
These are some of the offshore companies known so far in the “files”.
And the “reliable customer” Peevski
But the name of Delyan Peevski, who was sanctioned this year under the Magnitsky law for corruption and trading in influence, also appears in the documents. One is a reference letter from November 2016 for a reliable customer of the bank (see attached photo). Bird notes that because of the sanctions, he should no longer be a customer of the bank, but that there is no such official information.
The media recalls another case in which the management of Fibank forced businessmen to take cessions.
In front of BIRD’s camera, the owners of NSA Investment told how they were forced to sign an assignment of a receivable from Fibank for EUR 2 million to the construction company PST Group. The unexpected extra of EUR 2 million was a prerequisite for obtaining a loan of 7.3 million euros, and they were urged not to try to collect the assignment … However, when NSA Investment began to take some steps to collect the receivable, its owner surprisingly became a “client”. “to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office and spent 5 months in custody. His company has difficulty repaying the loan and very quickly Fibank uses the properties that are collateral for the loan. One of the most appetizing properties was sold well below its cost to the company” AA Invest “. The owner of this company is lawyer Alexander Angelov”, the site writes.
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– Angelov is Delyan Peevski’s lawyer (and the connection between them was confirmed by the first Pandora documents for a Bulgarian politician – here). Another property was bought by Georgi Samuilov (Insa Oil), also linked to the MRF candidate.
Fibank: We are strict, our shareholders are not owners in these companies
Asked for comment by Dnevnik on the occasion of the publication, the bank announced that they have always strictly observed the regulatory framework of the Bulgarian National Bank and the European Central Bank when lending.
“The companies on the list are a copy of a list of companies published by Bivol in 2014. For all borrowers of the bank, including the listed companies, we have duly completed declarations of affiliation and beneficial owners of legal entities, as for none of the they have not been identified as ultimate owners, Messrs. Minev and Mutafchiev “, specified by First Investment Bank.
They add that the loans mentioned in the investigation “have been subject to repeated inspections over the years by regulatory authorities, such as the Financial Supervision Commission, the Bulgarian National Bank, as well as by the asset quality inspections (AQR) conducted under the supervision of the ECB. performed by Mazars and First and Young. ” The bank emphasizes that none of these inspections revealed a violation of current legislation. According to them, there is no violation of the limits on loans.
The BNB also responded to media questions, explaining that they have “established practice within the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism, including not commenting on facts and circumstances in the public sphere concerning specific supervised institutions, their shareholders and clients.”
Regarding the data from the “Pandora Dossiers”, c “Capital” recalls its material What is the problem:
Whether this ceiling was exceeded is difficult to say with certainty, as the leaked data give a snapshot of 2017 and it is not clear when and how long Minev and Mutafchiev were owners of offshore companies. Over the years, there have been many transformations in the ownership of companies financed by Fibank. For example, for some of the Pandora Papers, it is clear that they already had loans from years ago, while they were owned by offshore companies on the list, but were transferred to previous years. “
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More on the topic – here.
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