site.bta Reformist Bloc Leader Kanev: Deal for Sale of Controversial Banker's Six Companies Is Direct Threat to National Security

Reformist Bloc Leader Kanev: Deal for Sale of Controversial Banker's Six Companies Is Direct Threat to National Security

Sofia, March 27 (BTA) - The acquisition of controversial banker
Tsvetan Vassilev's majority stakes in six companies by LIC33 is
a direct threat to the Bulgarian national security and stability
 and to the opportunity to restore the credits of Corporate
Commercial Bank (Corpbank), Reformist Block co-leader Radan
Kanev said in Parliament Friday.

Tsvetan Vassilev is the majority shareholder in the failed
Corpbank, who has been charged with aiding senior Corpbank
executives to embezzle nearly 206 million leva from the bank
between December 2011 and June 2014. LIC33 is a group of
companies pooling European Union investors specialized in
emerging markets and distressed situations. LIC33 has purchased
from Vassilev 43 per cent in Bulgarian Telecommunications
Company (BTC, trade name: Vivacom), 100 per cent in NURTS (a
major provider of TV and radio broadcasting services), and 91
per cent each in Dunarit (an ammunition and explosives
manufacturer), Avionams (a military jet and helicopter repair
and maintenance provider), GARB (an audience research company)
and First Digital (a digital terrestrial multiplex operator),
against 1 euro, in return of pledges to cover outstanding
obligations worth about 900 million euro. The transaction has
not yet obtained the relevant regulatory approvals.

Kanev told the MPs that this deal raises questions without
answers regarding the national security. The Reformist Bloc
considers a serious reason for concern the acquisition of BTC,
which currently controls key media frequencies, NURTS and
military factories by an unidentified company whose publicly
announced owner, Pierre Louvrier, is "known for his close ties
with the separatists in eastern Ukraine", Kanev said.

The Reformists insist that the State Agency for National
Security (SANS), the National Intelligence Service, the
Commission for Protection of Competition, and the financial
division of the specialised prosecuting magistracy immediately
start an investigation into the origins of capitals of the LIC33
 company's natural and legal persons, as well as clarify what
relations they have with Moscow and oligarchs close to Kremlin.
It should also be established whether the Bulgarian institutions
 have purposefully not acted in the past, thus leading to this
concentration, Kanev said.

In his words, this 1-euro deal without clear guarantees that
certain obligations will be covered (at least the value of the
six companies) is a sign of transformation. Therefore, the
National Revenue Agency and the temporary trustees should take
immediate actions so as to garnish the six companies' stakes,
Kanev argued.

Earlier on Friday, Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov told
journalists in Parliament: "How can you check the origins of one
 euro when you could receive it, as one would say, at the
station in Brussels as a donation from someone?"

The Reformist Bloc sees the acquisition of the six companies by
LIC33 also as a sign of an ongoing monopolization of Bulgaria's
media and frequency market. This deal reveals the fact that this
 whole concentration has been in one person's hands in the past,
 too, Kanev said on behalf of his parliamentary group.

The Reformists also regard the deal as a risk of the military
industry, the telecommunication operators, the media, and
military enterprises ending up in the hands of "a foreign
country with strained relations with NATO and the EU". Kanev
voiced doubts about a serious risk for the State and noted that
the unclear ownership threatens directly the national security.
 

The Reformist Bloc co-leader voiced the hope that the Bulgarian
institutions will work in this sphere. "We notice positive
signals, there are signs that the State is in its place,
particularly SANS, which proves how much the personnel changes
in the agency were necessary"," Kanev said. 

On March 24, Louvrier, the sole owner of LIC33, told a news
conference in Sofia that he is not involved in politics but is
just an independent investor. He denied links with Russian
oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. Louvrier said he is working in
Russia but he is a Belgian and not Russian national.