/ world today news/ You must have noticed how the politicians are attacking each other with accusations of ties to oligarchs. Those who want to change the model and the status quo claim that the oligarchs, who are in a mutually beneficial union with the government, are sucking the vital juices of the state and getting rich beyond measure at the expense of the people. The former power holders claim the opposite, that the oligarchs are paying for them. On April 4, on election day, Prime Minister Borisov said in the morning block of “Nova” about the protests against him: “This coup attempt was very well organized by oligarchs and foreign services. The prominent representative of the government, Ivan Geshev, and he saw the oligarchs as the number one enemy of the state, said that the oligarchs wanted to shake the state and destroy the prosecutor’s office. According to him, the oligarchs organized the protests.
But who are these mysterious and all-powerful oligarchs and how do they become so? Prime Minister Borissov does not name them. Ivan Geshev talks about the “oligarchs from the transition” who ruined the state, but he does not name them either – with the exception of the gambling boss Vasil Bozhkov, who was not officially declared an oligarch until the prosecutor’s office chased him.
It is generally accepted that the oligarch is an incredibly rich man, thanks to his warm ties to the authorities. The oligarch receives, but also repays, and even influences the authorities to make decisions that benefit him. For this purpose, he will bribe ministers, deputies, pour money into party coffers, which can also secure him the favor of those in power at the highest level. The oligarch, in a word, has no way of becoming an oligarch if he does not actively participate in what is called corruption.
But what is this corruption?
The DPS tried to give an answer to this question, after on June 2 the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Vasil Bozhkov, Delyan Peevski and Ilko Zhelyazkov, a former employee of the State Agency for National Security, for their significant role in corruption in Bulgaria ( DANS) and former Deputy Chairman of the National Office for the Control of Special Intelligence Means. Ilko Zhelyazkov is named as Peevski’s right-hand man, he assisted him in carrying out a bribery scheme, including high-ranking civil servants from the Bulgarian government.
In an official position of the DPS from June 3, in connection with the sanctions imposed on Delyan Peevski, it is said that corruption is present “when, as a result of the high public position held, the person abuses power, with the aim of directly or indirectly extracting material or non-material benefit that is not followed for my self”. And the public is reminded that Peevski has not held a high public office since 2009 until now.
This explanation is ridiculous. It turns out that the oligarchs who bribe, unlike those who take the money, should not be accused of corruption, in a word, they are clean under the law.
However, five years ago, on February 27, 2016. before BTV, the prominent MP from the DPS, Yordan Tsonev, after saying that Peevski was not an oligarch, gave another explanation of the term “oligarch”, different from the current position of the DPS. “An oligarch is – he said – a person who takes advantage of power (implied by bribing it) without participating in it”. In a word, it is not necessary to be in power to be an oligarch, what is necessary is to take advantage of it, through corruption schemes. Thus, according to Tsonev’s old interpretation, Peevski is an oligarch because he took advantage of power without actually participating in it. Or, as clearly stated in the announcement of the US Treasury Department, “Delyan Slavchev Peevski (“Peevski”) is an oligarch and media mogul and regularly participated in corruption by trading in influence and bribes.”
And here the question arises – is the honorary chairman of DPS Ahmed Dogan an oligarch? He seems to be. Like any oligarch, he is enviably rich, a multimillionaire. He must have taken advantage of the power without taking part in it, because how did he acquire barns and palaces, as well as an entire thermal power plant. And he himself admits that the portions are distributed in the state. And is it possible to distribute the portions without being in some combination or scheme with influential representatives of the authorities?
What about Hristo Biserov, another prominent former senior party functionary of the DPS? He shined as having become rich without knowing how, and he must have been in a special relationship with the authorities, how else did he get rich?
However, let’s ask another interesting question – are there oligarchs connected to other parties. Some say, for example, that Krasimir Gergov is a red oligarch. Does he meet that definition?
The answer seems to be given by Gergov himself. Recently, on June 6, he revealed interesting things to Maria Tsantsarova in “120 minutes” on bTV. That business should be on warm terms with politics. And he gave himself as an example. He was a family friend with Boyko Borisov for many years. Also with Slavi Trifonov, Georgi Parvanov, Rumen Petkov, Cornelia Ninova and others. It kind of implies that whoever is in power won’t be digging into his business, family friends don’t do that. Sometime in the distant past, Gergov had said that he had many friends and they were worth a lot of money. When in 1997 SDS comes to power, declares: “…I belong to the blue party and I support the blue government”. And he started accumulating the first millions just at the time of the blue power, when, by the way, a lot of oligarchs were born, mainly bankers, who emigrated when things got hot.
The American Treasury Department included in the list of “Tsekites” related to Vasil Bozhkov – the multi-millionaires Tsvetomir Naydenov, his brother and their father Svetoslav Naydenov, a former partner of Bozhkov in the gambling business, without calling them oligarchs, but the question arises whether they are not such? They allied themselves with the authorities, i.e. with the prosecutor’s office against Bozhkov and almost completely controlled the gambling business in the state.
According to Yordan Tsonev’s definition, can we define the multimillionaire Ivan Angelov as an oligarch? He admitted to Maya Manolova’s commission that he played belot with Prime Minister Borisov, who even helped him in an export deal to Turkey, received assistance in a case with veterinary certificates in Turkey, and announced that he hears from him once on “10 – 15 – 20 days”. It is accepted to consider that oligarchs are very smart, but Angelov seems to be an exception to the rule, he admitted the above things, then he felt that he was a fool and denied what he said.
What is characteristic of the Bulgarian oligarchs mentioned by our media is that they have no problems with power.
If one looks, there are a bunch of multi-millionaires in Bulgaria who are known to have been close to the authorities and they don’t hide it – like the Domuschievi brothers, for example. For some, it is not known exactly what their connections are in power, such as Tseko Minev, who is considered to actually own the ski resorts in Bansko and Vitosha. Things are special with him – when the question was raised, is he the real owner of “Yulen” in Bansko, ski legend Mark Girardelli landed in Bulgaria, who declared that he is the owner of the resort – with what money he bought it, it was not clear . And as the owner of Vitosha Ski, Eric Gumerer, executive director of an Italian company producing artificial snow cannons, was brought out. What Girardelli and Gumener have in common is that the two do not directly acquire shares in the Bulgarian companies, but acquire the offshore companies that hold them. They acquire them in the sense that they become “nominal” owners, while the real owner is another and hidden. Everyone knows who the real owner of “Yulen” is, regardless of the fact that they are hiding it – he explained on bTV on February 14, 2018. Boyko Borisov added: “After Tseko Minev moves everything in Bansko, most likely he is… Therefore, in my opinion, the owner should come out, reveal himself, put his cards on the table and let’s end it.”
It’s strange, isn’t it, that the all-powerful prime minister knows who the hidden owner of two of the biggest Bulgarian ski resorts is, and instead of ordering various authorities under him to investigate him, kindly invites him to reveal himself, which, as they say, will happen on hook summer. Is Tseko Minev an oligarch? Somehow he does not meet the criteria of Yordan Tsonev, neither is he in power, nor are his close connections with power known. He is not accused of corrupt practices. Someone somewhere might know something but isn’t telling.
The situation is similar with Rumen Gaitanski-Valka. Former Prime Minister Borissov often liked to say how, under other rulers, this businessman and multimillionaire cleaned Sofia’s garbage. As the mayor of Sofia, he had said that he was doing everything possible to rid Sofia of him. But even during Borisov’s prime ministership, Gaitanski continued to participate with his own companies in this lucrative business. Expelled, unexpelled. There are no revelations that there is a connection with the authorities, but in 2017 registered a joint company with the honorary chairman of DPS Ahmed Dogan, whose party was involved in the past in power. Is Gaitanski an oligarch? It might be, but go prove it.
There are also such multi-millionaire businessmen who do not stay in the shadows like Tseko Minev and Rumen Gaitanski, sometimes they are married to oligarchs and the authorities even investigate them, the prosecutor’s office from time to time makes various accusations against them, offices are searched, legal proceedings are started and either the court acquits them or the cases drag on for years. Some cynics believe that the measures against them are for intimidation, an invitation to report where and to whom it is necessary, but there is no evidence. Temporary troubles of this kind befell Hristo Kovacki, Grisha Ganchev, Ivo Prokopiev, Ognyan Donev and others. If you call one of them an oligarch, they may condemn you for tarnishing their good name.
Upon coming to power, the caretaker government appointed by President Radev revealed a long-standing scheme for enriching company owners through public procurement. An investigation of Tanya Petrova in “Sega” reveals curious facts. In 2020 for example, 7 companies received public resources for BGN 3.4 billion. In the “Security” sector, “Vip Security” of Atanas and Neli Simeonovi obtained 9 contracts for BGN 76 million, and in 2018 with 11 contracts for BGN 63.8 million. Profit in 2018 and an order for post office security worth BGN 60 million. Already in 2009. in partnership with Tsvetelina Borislavova’s SIBank have won a contract worth BGN 50 million for the distribution of vignettes until 2013. Another family – Magdalena and Stanimir Peevi – are also among the winners. Magdalena’s company “Multiforce” in 2019. obtained 13 contracts for public procurement for BGN 43.6 million. Coincidentally, her husband, who is listed in the Commercial Register as the actual owner of the company, is the chairman of the State Agency “State Reserve and Wartime Stocks”. Bent Oil, associated with Mladen Mihalev, according to OOP data in 2018. concluded 101 contracts for a total value of BGN 88 million and 82 contracts in 2019. for BGN 70 million. And under the line of the state company “Automagistrali”, the private company “Automagistrali Hemus” Raicho Kostov takes hundreds of millions of BGN for the construction of sections of the highway and for the strengthening of landslides.
In principle, there is nothing wrong with large companies with extensive experience and a good reputation for winning public contracts. But when a handful of companies win public contracts worth billions of leva, some of them family-owned, the question arises, how does this work happen? By receiving whether they are not repaid, in advance or afterwards? And isn’t this whole public procurement scheme practically an incubator for oligarchs?
Until recently, the state and the prosecutor’s office did not expand much on such issues. Both former Prime Minister Borissov and Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev saw behind the protests and demands for their resignation the long arm of the oligarchs, but did not pull out a list of their names.
Part of this work was done for them by the US Treasury.
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