site.bta Corpbank Victims Association Calls for Proper Control over Trustees in Bankruptcy

Corpbank Victims Association Calls for Proper Control over Trustees in Bankruptcy

Sofia, March 30 (BTA) - The Corpbank Victims Association (CVA)
on Monday called for proper control over the actions of the
temporary trustees in bankruptcy working at the bank and said
that its bankruptcy estate should be preserved. CVA
representatives and lawyers gave a news conference at the BTA
National Press Club.

Two trustees in bankruptcy stepped in office at Corpbank (formal
name: Corporate Commercial Bank) last Friday. The bankruptcy of
Bulgaria's fourth-largest lender was petitioned in November
2014 after a panic run by depositors in June left it illiquid.
Corpbank's licence has been withdrawn.

Lawyer Nikolai Radev told Monday's news conference that Corpbank
should be treated like any commercial corporation and the
temporary trustees in bankruptcy should be accountable to the
bank's creditors as well as to the courts. "We believe that in
the case of a bank's bankruptcy there should be even greater
accountability and control, but we do not see any provisions
made to this effect," the lawyer said.

According to Radev, the appointment of temporary trustees in
bankruptcy at Corpbank was a good decision, considering that
there had been no legally established rules about the period
from the withdrawal of a bank's licence until it is declared
bankrupt.

Radev believes it is possible to challenge transactions in which
holders of deposits with Corpbank exceeding 196,000 leva, which
are not guaranteed, have been selling their deposits to
companies owing a loan debt to the bank, so that the latter
could set off the amounts due against the amounts deposited.
Such set-offs can be invalidated or remain unrecognized, the
lawyer argued.

CVA members hold that the Bulgarian Deposit Insurance Fund
should not take precedence over other depositors with Corpbank.
They said the lender bankruptcy estate must be preserved by all
means.