site.btaCourt Refuses to Consider Lawyers' Claim against Banker Tsvetan Vassilev's Future Custody

Court Refuses to Consider Lawyers' Claim
against Banker Tsvetan Vassilev's
Future Custody


Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - The Sofia City Court on Friday
refused to consider a claim by banker Tsvetan Vassilev's lawyers
against a prosecutorial request for Vassilev to be placed in
72-hour custody after the authorities find him.

Vassilev, whose Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) has been
inoperable for almost three months, is on Interpol's wanted
persons' list and his whereabouts are unknown. He and senior
executives of the bank have been charged with embezzlement.
According to Vassilev's lawyers, he is in Austria.

Unveiling its decision on Friday, the court cited the European
Convention on Human Rights, according to which a person who is
not in custody may not challenge their possible future placement
in custody.

The decision came after an argument broke out between
prosecution and defence, who engaged in a spate of strong
language for 40 minutes.

Vassilev's defence lawyers said that on more than one occasion
they had submitted documents showing where in Austria their
client is, and that he is receiving medical treatment there.
Vassilev is asking the authorities for protection in order to
return to Bulgaria, because he fears for his life. He has
received threats, a fact which has been brought to the notice of
the prosecuting magistracy, lawyer Konstantin Simeonov said.

The prosecution countered by saying that there are no valid
reasons to assign bodyguards to protect the businessman, because
he has not given any evidence of particular importance for the
investigation.

The defence went on to say that if Vassilev tries to come back
to Bulgaria, he will be detained on the Serbian border by the
Serbian authorities, and then a court in Belgrade will have to
decide whether to extradite him to Bulgaria or not. This is an
obstacle which keeps Vassilev from returning, although he may be
willing to. And even if he gets to Bulgaria, a 72-hour custody
will be too harsh a measure, the defence argued.

The matter will be definitively decided by the Sofia Appellate
Court next Thursday.

Meanwhile, the GERB party questioned the way the Bulgarian
National Bank (BNB, the country's central bank) exercises
special supervision of Corpbank, which stopped all payments on
June 21 due to a lack of liquid assets. The supervision also
applies to Corpbank's subsidiary Victoria Commercial Bank
(former Credit Agricole).

GERB wrote in an open letter to BNB Governor Ivan Iskrov that
the Corpbank case is a test for society and has shifted the
focus from many other problems plaguing the nation. The party
finds it unacceptable that the administrators appointed by BNB
to run Corpbank have, for more than two months, failed to
provide complete information about the lender's condition. "BNB
Governor Ivan Iskrov's premature and contradictory statements
have added to the tension and have created the impression that
the process is out of control," the letter said.

"We are concerned that postponing information about the real
condition of the bank holds a risk that its portfolio may
deteriorate further and increases the price of its recovery,"
GERB warned.