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Receivers Make Public AlixPartners’ Final Report on Bulgaria’s Insolvent KTB
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The head office of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) in Sofia.
The receivers of insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank or KTB) have made public a report tracking the assets of Bulgaria’s fourth-largest lender.
An English-language version of the final report, prepared by UK-based consultancy AlixPartners in September 2015, had been initially submitted to Parliament’s Secret Registry to be read by lawmakers only.
Under changes to the Bank Insolvency Act approved last month a Bulgarian-language translation of the final report is now available on the KTB website, corpbank.bg.
A Bulgarian court had declared KTB insolvent as of 6 November 2014. Following an appeal from Bulgaria’s central bank (BNB), a higher court ruled last year that the bank had slid into insolvency as early as 20 June 2014.
KTB, majority owned by Tsvetan Vasilev, collapsed in June 2014 following a run on deposits.
An analysis of the commercial operations of KTB since 2009 showed a widespread use of lending to borrowers in order to channel funds for the purpose of improperly and/or unlawfully extracting those funds from KTB, AlixPartners said, according to the Bulgarian-language version of the report.
It seemed that those funds had been used in most cases to the benefit of the bank’s majority owner, his accomplices and related persons, the consultancy said. It added that a considerable portion of the credits extended by KTB was not backed by collateral or the collateral was insignificant.
In addition, KTB was involved in a number of investment decisions and trading practices which were not in the bank’s own financial interests but rather aimed to assist the bank’s majority owner, his aides and related persons, according to the report.
Vasilev is in Serbia, waiting for Belgrade High Court to rule on an extradition request filed by the Bulgarian prosecuting authorities on charges of allegedly embezzling BGN 206 M from KTB. He has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the collapse of KTB was a premeditated attack launched by a Bulgarian business partner-turned-rival and supported by state institutions.
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