Tzvetan Vassilev, 55, is the chairman and majority shareholder of Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), which was Bulgaria’s fourth largest bank by assets before late June, when a run of customers seeking to withdraw their savings drained its reserves.
The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) assumed control of CCB on June 20 and temporarily froze customer accounts for an independent audit. BNB later extended this three-month period of “special supervision” until November.
Vassilev, who was indicted in Bulgaria for misappropriation of funds, has now come to the attention of investigators in Liechtenstein. “Proceedings were initiated after a Liechtenstein bank made a report at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) according to due diligence law, and the FIU passed on this notification to us,” Prosecutor General of Liechtenstein Robert Wallner told Reuters.
In a statement on his website, Vassilev, who is currently in Serbia, says “the restoration of the bank has become a mission of my life” and claims that he has not come back to Bulgaria because being under arrest would prevent him from working to save CCB. The statement addresses what Vassilev claims are three myths about the situation: “Vassilev stole the money and ran,” “Vassilev lies” and “The bank is a pyramid [scheme].”
Vassilev asserts that the bank’s troubles, which began when he was in Vienna on a business trip, are the result of attacks from political enemies including Delyan Peevski. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Peevski, a businessman and member of the Bulgarian Parliament, generated the run on CCB when he withdrew his assets from the bank.
A travel ban has been imposed on Vassilev while Serbian authorities process a Bulgarian extradition request, reports Bloomberg Businessweek. His passport was confiscated and he is required to report daily to a Belgrade police station.
His bank is still closed, even though BNB said that it would be reopened within a month, leaving many Bulgarians unable to access their savings. “It’s infuriating that I have the money, but there’s no way to get to it,” school teacher Valentina Kuzmanova told Bloomberg Businessweek.
In his statement, Vassilev claims to agree, saying: “All who trusted us deserve a fair solution.”
