Bulgaria Sumo President Faces Charges over Top Banker Murder

Crime | October 3, 2011, Monday // 11:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Sumo President Faces Charges over Top Banker Murder Emil Kyulev, one of the richest men in Bulgaria, was being driven to work in Sofia in his BMW sports utility vehicle on October 26, 2005 when, shortly after 9:00 am he was shot and killed by a man hiding in the bushes. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The president of Bulgaria's Sumo Federation, who is believed to head the notorious gang, dubbed the Killers, is to be charged in the coming days over the assassination of top banker Emil Kyulev, reports say.

Petar Stoyanov aka the Chieftain was arrested last summer over the murder of businessman Rumen Rachev in the northern city of Shumen. He is currently standing trial.

"The Killers" gang is believed to be behind several assassinations around the country, including the murder of controversial football club president Yuriy Galev, businessman Rumen Rachev and lawyer Petar Lupov.

Rachev and Lupov have been involved in a scheme for redistribution of money, which top banker Emil Kyulev owed to owners of former banks, worth EUR 3.6 M, according to reports.

The gang is also believed to be behind the slaying of Bulgaria's top banker Emil Kyulev more than five and a half years ago. Through the contract murders the Killers allegedly settled the scores over a scheme for redistribution of Kyulev's money.

Emil Kyulev, one of the richest men in Bulgaria, was being driven to work in Sofia in his BMW sports utility vehicle on October 26, 2005 when, shortly after 9:00 am he was shot and killed by a man hiding in the bushes.

Shortly after the murder the police released an e-fit picture of the suspect they are looking for. The suspect was described as being aged 28, about 170 centimeters, of slim build and hollow-cheeked face, moustaches and a beard. The man wore a hat at the time of the crime.

A man with a camera happened accidentally to shoot on tape one of the killers, who prepared the area for the assassination and scoured it meticulously the previous day, according to local media reports.

In the course of more than five years after the murder nobody managed to recognize the man, who masterminded the murder and fixed the location of the shooter. At the beginning of the year however he was identified as one of the members of "The Killers" gang – Georgi Petkov, aka Dachi.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov was the first to make public this version in October last year, saying that it is quite possible that "The Killers" gang had a motive and were accomplices in the murder of Emil Kyulev.

Kyulev was the head of DZI Group, the biggest insurance and banking firm in the country, with more than 12,000 employees and USD 585 M in assets. He was close to all the major political parties and served as an economic adviser to President Georgi Parvanov.

His murder was particularly shocking because he did not fit the profile of the smugglers, extortionists and drug dealers who were slain in a boom of organized crime-related deaths at that time.

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Tags: banker, DZI Group, Rumen Rachev, Yuriy Galev, The Killers, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Emil, Kyulev, Georgi Petkov, Dachi, Bulgaria

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