Corporate Commercial Bank Begins Payments to Creditors After 10-Year Bankruptcy
Trustees of Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), currently in bankruptcy, announced the commencement of payments to creditors starting at 09:00 on November 5, 2024
Bulgarian businessman Tsvetan Vasilev drained BGN 2.5 B out of his own bank through special purpose vehicles, consultancy firm AlixPartners says in a report made public on Tuesday.
The report had been ordered by officials to track down the assets of Bulgaria's fourth-largest lender after its insolvency was declared in 2014.
Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank or KTB) collapsed in June 2014 following a run on deposits.
The text's Bulgarian-language version of the report is available on the deposit insurance fund's webpage [BG] as of May 04, Monday, following a vote in Parliament allowing the publication through legal amendments.
The report, in its Bulgarian-language version, contains information about a "pyramid" of credit lines to KTB connected to the same mortgage collateral, loans granted to secure the acquisition of shares in other companies that are owned by KTB.
It says clients who were extended a credit line are highly interconnected.
AlixPartners also maintains that loans to a total of 8 entities, which include fuels trader Petrol, Bulgaria's largest telecom Vivacom, and Serbia-based glass factory in Para?in (all owned or controlled by Vasilev as of 2014), were handed out loans of a total value of BGN 1 B (approximately EUR 0.5 B).
No names of clients (natural or legal persons) are explicitly mentioned, the only exception being made with regard of those entities whose loans have not been cleared off.
It also reads that: "KTB apparently grew quickly since 2009. The total sum of the Bank's assets, as seen in the financial reports, was BGN 6.7 B as of December 31, 2013, compared to BGN 2 B as of December 31, 2009, and net assets also grew more than twice."
Vasilev, who is currently in Serbia waiting for a court to rule on an extradition request by the Bulgarian prosecuting authorities, maintains the collapse of KTB was a premeditated attack by a business partner-turned-rival supported by state institutions.
He has not yet commented on the report's revelations as of Wednesday noontime.
The Bulgarian Ministry of Finance has unveiled the draft State Budget for 2025, revealing a planned deficit of 6.4 billion leva
Financier Plamen Danailov, a municipal councilor from the "There Is Such a People" party, recently discussed Bulgaria's potential adoption of the euro
European Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis has stated that Bulgaria's objective of joining the eurozone on January 1, 2026
In Krivodol, a municipality in Northwestern Bulgaria, local authorities are taking steps toward the eurozone transition well ahead of the February 20 deadline
Boyko Borissov, leader of GERB, defended the government’s progress on Bulgaria’s path to the eurozone
Bulgaria could adopt the euro as its official currency from January 1, 2026, if it successfully meets the necessary criteria for joining the eurozone
Bulgaria's Perperikon: A European Counterpart to Peru's Machu Picchu
Bulgarians Among EU's Least Frequent Vacationers, Struggling with Affordability