site.btaLegislator Excludes Public Companies from Scope of Entities Not Allowed to Own Farm Land in Bulgaria

Legislator Excludes Public Companies from Scope of Entities Not Allowed to Own Farm Land in Bulgaria

Sofia, April 29 (BTA) - The legislators Wednesday excluded
public companies which are traded on the Bulgarian stock market,
from the scope of entities not allowed to own farm land in
Bulgaria. The decision followed more than two hours of debates
on proposed revisions in the Financial Instrument Markets Act
causing changes in the Agricultural Land Ownership and Use Act.

The effective provisions envisage sanctions for offshore owners
of farm land after October 1, as well as owners with foreign
participation from outside the EU. After the revisions, the
restrictions will no longer be applicable to public companies.

The revision caused a clash between the ruling majority and the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). There were accusations
of lobbyism and attempts to unlawfully push through the
revisions between first and second reading debates.

"Bulgaria gets its first lobbyist law after this vote," MRF
leader Lyutvi Mestan said. Ventsislav Kaymakanov of the same
group argued that the new legislation allows offshore companies
to continue to purchase farm land in Bulgaria and must therefore
be voted down. MRF's Yordan Tsonev added that voting against
the revisions is a chance to eliminate one opportunity for money
laundering. He argued that the revisions open the door to
offshore companies to buy more shares in public companies
owning farm land.

The deputy floor leader of the Socialist group, Yanaki Stoilov,
called for first clarifying the question of the admissibility of
the revision to take into account of the interests of public
companies "without giving up the rules for protecting Bulgarian
land".

Delyan Dobrev (GERB) explained that the law is meant as a
precaution and if an offshore company owns only one share in a
public company, this public company faces a fine of 1,000
leva/ha for first offence and 3,000 leva/ha for repeat offence.

Martin Dimitrov of the Reformist Bloc argued that the insecurity
on the capital markets will persist unless the proposed
revision goes through. Turning to the opponents of the revision,
he said that "apparently somebody wants to buy underpriced
land".

He was supported by Dimiter Bayraktarov of the Patriotic Front
who said that the revision is a good political sign to
investors.

Revising another provision of the Financial Instrument Markets
Act, the legislator decided that in the event of force majeur,
the Financial Supervision Commission will disclose information
that constitutes official secret, to the competent bodies of the
Republic of Bulgaria and other EU member states, which are in
charge of supervision on lending and financial institutions,
investment intermediaries and insurance companies, which such
information is necessary for the performance of their functions.

The MPs required of the Financial Supervision Commission to
announce on its web page each enforceable penal decree for a
violation of this law.