The Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office has tasked the Commission for Combating Corruption and for Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property to conduct an investigation into media publications related to transactions of Asen Vasilev and Daniel Lorer, BNT reported.
Timeline of the scandal
On January 10, bird.bg published an investigation in which it was reported that a former company of Finance Minister Asen Vasilev had its accounts blocked due to a claim by an American citizen for 5 million leva, but managed to save its property with a profitable deal.
The buyer of the transaction turns out to be the company of Stanislava Arnaudova, better known by her nickname “The Queen of the vignettes” – an intermediary who collects 7% of each vignette. On September 7, 2023, “STV Consulting”, the former company of Asen Vassilev, sold the yard and 5 properties in a building at 3 Chataldzha Street in Sofia for nearly BGN 3 million. Three months later, it went bankrupt.
Laurer bought a property from STV Consulting for just over 350,000 leva, and a year later sold it for 1.8 million leva. of Stanislava Arnaudova. On the same day, “STV Consulting” sold the remaining part of the building to the company “Sea Trading 2016”, sole property of the same Stanislava Arnaudova.
And Arnaudova’s company – “Intelligent Traffic Systems” – since 2019 mediates between the state and end users in the purchase of vignettes with a 7% commission.
Asen Vassilev’s reaction
Asen Vasilev reacted with a post entitled “it wasn’t computers, it was compotes”. He stated that “if bird.bg was a real media”, it would have established that the building at 3 “Chataldja” street was bought by the company “STV Consulting” in 2019 for the construction of an office of the company and the reconstruction was completed in 2021
Vassilev claims that he does not know Arnaudova. “Not only do I not know the buyer, but I also consider it absurd and malicious to involve my name in a fabricated story about something that happens two and a half years after I left the company,” said the finance minister.
The finance minister wrote that he left the company in 2021, ending his participation in “STV Consulting”. The owner of the company sold the building on September 7, 2023 for BGN 3.1 million, claims Asen Vassilev.
Laurer’s position: FACTS ONLY, NO ADJECTIVES
The properties, the subject of numerous publications, are bought and sold at market prices, declared and all taxes are paid on time.
1/ The company CTW purchased the property in 2019 at market prices worth 950,000 euros and sold part of it to me at market prices corresponding to my share in the house, the risks assumed for the condition of the specific property and the property market in 2020. None how can the prices not be market considering the fact that the deal for the house was financed with a bank loan, and the house is collateral for it.
2/ By prior arrangement, I enter with financial participation already during the renovation in 2020, noted in my declaration to KPCONPI from 2021. In 2020, when I enter this property, its condition is almost only rough construction, only the supporting structures remain. The year is the first Covid year. I am entering co-ownership in a seriously unfinished property. This always affects the free market price.
3/ The actual sale of the property takes place almost 2 years later, when the complex procedures for the settlement of the individual parts with separate notarial deeds are completed. This delay is due to my insistence on not acquiring perfect parts. After restructuring the house and dividing it into two properties, in 2022, I conclude a notarial transaction and acquire the property notarially.
4/ In 2023 I am selling it at market prices for an ideal center of Sofia and for a completely finished and furnished look. Why together with the company? Because the buyer only wanted to purchase the entire property. Why is my price higher? Because I didn’t want to sell my newly built home unless it was really worth it.
5/ Everything is declared and accordingly all taxes due are paid on time. Due to the short holding period, I am due to pay full capital gains tax this year.
6/ I have not rented or received rent for the apartment from anyone.
I am sure that the checks of the institutions will show that this is an unfair attack. I will fully cooperate with them, after which I will take appropriate action against those who affected my name.
2024-01-18 18:30:00
#KPCONPI #investigates #property #transactions #Asen #Vassilev..
