KPMG Bulgaria will be fined BGN 100 000 due to major shortcomings and discrepancies in the audits of the Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB, Corpbank).

Vanya Doneva, Chair of the Commission for Public Oversight of Statutory Auditors, announced Thursday that the Bulgarian unit of the international audit firm would be imposed the highest possible fine, BGN 20 000, for a period of five years, 2009-2013, during which it audited activities of KTB.

KPMG Bulgaria has not issued comments on the fine yet.

The audit company can appeal the fine within seven days, according to Reuters.

Two employees of KPMG also face fines, one of BGN 40 000 and one of BGN 60 000, as one of them approved audits for a period of two years and the other one for three years, according to the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

In end-October 2014, KPMG Bulgaria insisted that the audits complied with international standard and had been compiled on the basis of the information and documents they had been given.

In December 2014, the watchdog identified major flaws in the audits of KTB drafted by KPMG Bulgaria and launched an investigation into the reports issued in the period 2009-2013.

At the end of the 2013 financial year, KPMG stated that less than 1% of the bank’s loans were non-performing, against an average of 17% for Bulgarian banks.

In June 2014, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) placed KTB under special administration (conservatorship) after a run on deposits.

KTB, Bulgaria’s fourth biggest lender, was closed.

In November 2014, BNB revoked the license of the bank and asked court to launch bankruptcy proceedings.