SOFIA: A Bulgarian court has ordered the seizure of property belonging to the main owner of troubled Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), a central bank deputy governor and six other officials, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The fate of Bulgaria’s fourth-largest lender has been in limbo since June, when a run on deposits prompted the central bank to take control of it and close its operations, triggering the worst banking crisis in the Black Sea state since the 1990s.
Corpbank has since remained shut and customers are demanding access to their remaining deposits.
“On August 22, 2014, the Sofia City Court complied with the request of the Prosecutor’s Office and placed the properties of Tsvetan Vassilev under restraint,” prosecutors said in a statement about the bank’s main owner.
Vassilev, whose whereabouts are unknown, was locked in a public feud with a rival at the time of the run on Corpbank. Bulgarian prosecutors have charged him with embezzlement and said an international warrant for his arrest had been issued. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors would not elaborate on the value of his assets, or the seized property of the other six Corpbank senior officials and the central bank’s Tsvetan Gounev.
Prosecutors said in June they had opened an investigation against Gounev into his role as banking supervisor.
Neither Gounev, his lawyer or the central bank responded to calls and emails asking for comment yesterday.
Reuters
