site.btaAsset Forfeiture Commission Orders Forfeiture of LV 199 Mln in Assets of Economedia Owner after Finding One Privatization Deal Unlawful

Sofia, December 12 (BTA) - The asset forfeiture commission has found that businessman and publisher Ivo Prokopiev unlawfully acquired a state-owned company in 1999 which has resulted in hundreds of millions of leva in unlawful income - for which they have ordered forfeiture of assets worth 199 million leva. This transpired at a news conference that commission Chair Plamen Georgiev held Tuesday to make public details of the forfeiture decision. The forfeiture will apply to one vacation property owned by Prokopiev and his wife, Prokopiev's bank accounts and shares in 40 companies directly or indirectly controlled by Prokopiev.

At a news conference held in the same room right after the asset forfeiture commission, Prokopiev said that nothing of the commission's conclusions was true and that a state institution is being used as a weapon for suppressing the editorial policy of his - and Bulgaria's second largest - Economedia publishing group.

The chair of the asset forfeiture commission insisted that Prokopiev's publishing business will remain unaffected by the forfeiture.

Four of the five commission members supported the forfeiture decision and one member - put on the commission by the President's Office - voted with dissenting opinion, said Georgiev. He added that the arguments of the dissenting member matched those of Prokopiev: that the check went farther back than the 10-year prescription period and that the commission overstepped its powers.

Georgiev denied that and explained that the primary target of the commission was the sale by Prokopiev of one of his companies, Kaolin, in 2013. For that, they had to make sure Prokopiev used lawfully acquired money to purchase Kaolin in 1999 from the State. As a result of that check, they make the conclusion that the privatization was unlawful.

Based on this conclusion, the commission consider unlawful the 150 million leva income Prokopiev had from Kaolin's sale as well as all dividends and other income he received from Kaolin as its owner.

Prokopiev recalled that a court has ruled that he did nothing wrong when he acquired Kaolin, and a conclusion by the privatization regulator shortly after the deal itself said that there were no flaws in the acquisition procedure.

The forfeiture decision has been upheld by the court in Bourgas but Prokopiev will have three months during which he will have a chance to prove that his incomes were clean.

Georgiev complained of unprecedented pressure on the commission by Prokopiev media but said that he is not aware of any commission member coming under any personal pressure.

Prokopiev, however, suspects that Georgiev himself has been under the pressure of Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov.

He admitted having contacted Prime Minister Boyko Borissov about the asset forfeiture commission probe but Borissov "was unwilling or unable to intervene". He said he wanted to keep the Prime Minister informed because of the larger implications of the case: a state institution being used to intimidate free media and private ownership being at risk.

Economedia publisher Teodor Zahov had strong words for the implications of the forfeiture decision. He said that independent media are being punished and the State encourages this, that the monopolization of the news media in Bulgaria is a fact, that fear among the journalists has started to prevail and that all this will result in a parody of democracy.

Prokopiev added that the absence of a genuine political opposition in Parliament makes the free-thinking media outlets very vulnerable.