site.btaPrime Minister Urges Corpbank Majority Owner to Cooperate with Judicial Authorities

ESD 18:37:00 10-09-2014
VE1836ES.123
123 ECONOMY - CORPBANK - PRIME MINISTER

Prime Minister Urges Corpbank
Majority Owner to Cooperate
with Judicial Authorities


Sofia, September 10 (BTA) - Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki on
Wednesday urged Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) majority
owner Tsvetan Vassilev to return to Bulgaria and cooperate with
the judicial authorities in uncovering the truth about the
ailing bank "in which he himself has invested a lot of money and
in which there are big interests of so many others at stake."

Corpbank has been inoperable since June 21 due to a lack of
liquid assets and has been placed under special supervision by
the central bank to allow a thorough audit and possible
restructuring. Vassilev and senior executives of the bank have
been charged with embezzlement. Vassilev is on Interpol's wanted
persons list and his whereabouts are unknown.

Prime Minister Bliznashki said that Corpbank should be
stabilized, because any mistake in this case can have
far-reaching effects. The defence industry and many
municipalities, among other clients, have been keeping their
money in that bank, he noted. "Solutions must be found to
stabilize the bank," he said.

According to Bliznashki, Vassilev is the key figure in the case.
"It is not enough that he has been sending letters and making
stabilization plans, which may be commendable in itself, but he
should come back here and cooperate with the judicial
authorities in solving the case," the Prime Minister insisted.

"Bulgaria is a law-governed state. Things should not be
dramatized along personal lines. We have a very serious
situation here and I think we need to try and stabilize Corpbank
and thus bring stability to the whole banking system,"
Bliznashki argued. He said the other banks may be stable, but if
Corpbank slips out of control, this could have an adverse
impact on other lenders.

Finance Minister Roumen Porozhanov said it is up to the central
bank to decide whether to give clients partial access to their
deposits in Corpbank within the limits of the lender's
liquidity. Corpbank has 180,000 clients with deposits of 1,000
leva or less, Porozhanov said. VI/VE