Bulgarian Media Moguls Charged with Tax, Document Fraud

Crime | June 12, 2012, Tuesday // 12:19
Bulgarian Media Moguls Charged with Tax, Document Fraud: Bulgarian Media Moguls Charged with Tax, Document Fraud Ognyan Donev (R) and Lyubomir Pavlov (L) were questioned at the National Investigation Services before being charged with tax and document fraud. Photo by sbj-bg.edu

The publishers of a major Bulgarian press group, formerly owned by WAZ Mediengruppe, were officially charged Tuesday with money laundering, tax evasion, and document fraud.

Lyubomir Pavlov and his partner Ognyan Donev, after been summoned by investigators, both appeared for questioning at the National Investigative Office. Donev, who is also owner of Sopharma,  arrived first in the company of two of the most prominent Bulgarian lawyers – Daniela Dokovska and Ina Lulcheva. He spent about 40 minutes inside. Pavlov, also accompanied by a lawyer, arrived at 11 am.

He was the one to comment on the charges after the conclusion of the questioning, calling them a joke, while his defense counsel labeled them absurd. Donev declined comments.

Prosecutors were approached by Donev and Pavlov's former partners Hristo Grozev and Austrian Karl Habsburg.

The allegations reportedly implicate Pavlov and Donev in a money laundering scheme, thanks to which they purchased by WAZ Mediengruppe assets in Bulgaria and staged an illegal corporate take-over of the newspapers.

The news about the indictment comes just four days after a scandalous taped recording, implicating publisher of Trud and 24 Hours dailies and chairman of the Union of Publishers in Bulgaria Lyubomir Pavlov, in trading in influence, was published in Presa, a newspaper from the arch enemy group.

According to the transcript Lyubomir Pavlov speaks with an unidentified person, telling him how he will use his media group to get away from prosecution.

He says he will be charged soon, but does not worry about the outcome of the trial because no prosecutor would dare touch him.

The authenticity of the recording has not been verified.

Presa newspaper is published by Tosho Toshev, who is also editor-in chief of the newspaper. Tosho Toshev was former editor-in-chief of Trud daily, which is now the strongest weapon in the hands of his enemies - Pavlov and Donev.

In April last year, Bulgaria's competition watchdog gave the green light to the acquisition of WAZ Mediengruppe assets in Bulgaria by Ognyan Donev and Lyubomir Pavlov even though they were accused of an attempted corporate mini-coup.

The ruling cemented the decision of Bulgaria's Business Registry Agency to register 83% of the wide-circulation dailies "Trud" (Labor) and 24 Chasa (24 Hours) as property of Ognyan Donev and Lyubomir Pavlov, former chairman of the Sofia-based Municipal Bank.

The ownership of WAZ Mediengruppe assets in Bulgaria, which include the two wide-circulation Trud and 24 Hours newspapers, changes hands just four months after Vienna-registered BG Privatinvest Ltd acquired a majority stake in the publisher, while the remainder was held by local businessmen Lyubomir Pavlov.

The conflict between the former partners flared up in March after Hristo Grozev, who represents the Vienna-registered BG Privatinvest Ltd, controlled by him, Austrian Karl Habsburg, and German Daniel Rutz, accused their Bulgarian partners of an attempted illegal corporate take-over of the newspapers.

Bulgaria's trade registry initially blocked the allegedly illegal transfer of a 83% stake in the holding at the insistence of Grozev, but later, following the intervention of the Justice Ministry, gave it the green light.

Grozev and Rutz are giving an emergency press conference in Sofia Tuesday. It will start at 2:3o pm.

More on Bulgaria's media war read HERE.

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Tags: Presa, 24 Hours, Hristo Grozev, WAZ, Ognyan Donev, Lyubomir Pavlov, Tosho Toshev, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, Corporate Commercial Bank, DTT, EIBank, Central Cooperative bank, Irena Krasteva, Finance Ministry, European Commission, Brussels, CIBANK, Union of Publishers in Bulgaria, Bulgarian Media Union, Trud, Presa daily, Karl Habsburg, charged, fraud, National Investigative Services, National Investigative Office

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