Corporate Commercial Bank majority shareholder Tsvetan Vasilev has pledged to do anything to rescue the troubled lender and has claimed to have irrefutable evidence of “manipulations” against KTB at disposal.
In a statement on his personal website addressed to customers and employers of Corpbank or KTB (as the bank is also known), he has commented on the recent developments around him and his financial institution.
Vasilev has argued he had come under fire from a number of media outlets in a way going beyond his worst expectations.
The businessman has also sought to refute what he calls “three myths” about him and his bank.
As “Myth No. 1” he points: “Vasilev took the money and fled”. He has reminded he was not in Bulgaria at the time of the attack on KTB and decided to remain abroad after being informed the purpose of “scriptwriters” was that he should be publicly detained as Chairman of the Bank's Supervisory Board.
“I never even imagined the lack of responsibility of state institutions will end up with [them] being among the initiators of the bank's destruction. My imagination did not admit such cynicism. But they did it in front of the entire Bulgaria,” he has explained.
In his words, the though to hide did not even cross his mind at any moment.
The banker maintains between June 13 and 20, when Corpbank was exposed to a run and placed under special supervision by the central bank, he was in constant contact with both KTB executives and Bulgarian National Governor (BNB) Ivan Iskrov while in Vienna.
Vasilev has also pointed that between 2011 and 2013, at the time he allegedly embezzled millions of BGN from his own bank, it actually underwent a BGN 500 M worth capitalization through a direct capital increase, capitalization of the yearly income and subordinated debt.
He has called the “information” about money carried out in sacks from KTB's vault and the signal submitted to the Prosecutor's office on that matter as “absurd”, adding the fact that over EUR 200 B worth of accounts held by various companies remain at the bank is being “concealed” from public attention.
As for “Myth 2” (“Vasilev is Hiding”), he has again emphasized that KTB withstood attacks from state institutions which a few banks in the world could endure, but the BNB was then “absent... regardless of my efforts and the efforts of executives to talks its leadership into stepping in.”
The bank suffered from an organized attack and irrefutable evidence could be provided to prove that point, according to Vasilev.
„This is why I decided to fight until the end: for my truth and that of my colleagues and mostly for those who conferred their money to us! I will do everything to recover the bank and you have my word that I will sue those responsible for the ugly war against KTB,” the businessman has declared, adding it is now the “mission” of his life.
About “Myth No.3”, the one saying “the bank is a pyramid”, he has accused businessman Ivo Prokopiev of supporting the abovementioned claim, adding the circles which united themselves around it show “low intellectual potential”.
„I declare with all my responsibility that the bank has financed the main industry sectors in a balanced and responsible way,” according to the banker, who has also reminded international experts working on KTB's audit reached the same conclusion.
“Regardless of certain defects in the bank's credit portfolio, its actives provide for its commitments,” Vasilev has said, throwing the blame on BNB supervisors for having been ordered to prove the contrary.
Concluding his statement, Vasilev has explained these and other theses will also be repeated by his defense, but also as part of the proposal to restructure Corpbank he is due to submit.