© Tsvetelina Belutova, Capital
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The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) applies restrictive measures in transactions and operations in accordance with the established internal rules and procedures and the requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Measures Act. They are against people on the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list.
On June 6, the administration of President Joe Biden announced that imposes sanctions of six Bulgarians, including Vasil Bozhkov and Delyan Peevski, as well as 64 legal entities related to them. The list also includes Ilko Zhelyazkov, Alexander Manolev, Petar Haralampiev and Krassimir Tomov.
According to information requested by banks and received by the BNB, all banks in the country with open accounts and business relationships with the above persons have already taken the necessary restrictive measures, including blocking accounts, blocking cards, seizures and closing accounts. Some of these measures were taken in advance on other grounds before the publication of the OFAC list, according to the National Bank.
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The established internal rules and procedures in the banks and the current regulatory framework allow for the application of the procedure provided for in the Anti-Money Laundering Measures Act, the BNB also announced. This procedure includes notification by the banks to the Financial Intelligence Directorate of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), suspension by SANS of a certain operation or transaction for a period of up to 5 working days, notification by SANS to the prosecutor’s office, request by the prosecutor’s office. for imposition of seizure or attachment, ruling by the court within 24 hours.
In addition, the BNB sent to all banks instructions for additional actions and measures regarding the clients of the banks included in OFAC lists or similar lists of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria. The BNB informed the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior and SANS about the instructions sent to the banks. The BNB also emphasizes the need to speed up the preparation of a legislative decision related to the implementation of similar restrictive measures taken by other countries at the national level, with a view to its introduction without further delay in the next National Assembly.
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