Bulmarket and FIB Hide Money Destined for Blast Victims Mind the horns!

The accounts of BULMARKET RAIL CARGO, whose tanks exploded in the Bulgarian village of Hitrino, causing fatalities and material damage, have been completely emptied. The main creditor of the company – First Investment Bank (FIB) – is not responding to the requests of private law enforcement officers requiring information on the cash balances in the company’s accounts in the Bank’s branch in the Danube city of Ruse. This became evident from an investigation by Bivol. As early as the time of the tragedy that took away lives and destroyed many human destinies, only Bivol revealed that the companies that own the ill-fated train composition are closely related to the majority shareholders in FIB and to firms around it. The owner of the exploded train emerged once again to be the infamous destitute Cypriot Georgios Georgiou. The same is the owner of the biggest ski concessionaires in the mountains Pirin and Vitosha, as well as the person who is behind the BGN 1.2 billion in loans from FIB to dozens of suspicious offshores. However, our investigations (see here) were quite deliberately ignored by almost all mainstream media as well as by the official and responsible institutions in the executive and the judiciary. Instead, our team was subjected to a renewed defamatory hysteria campaign from all media of controversial mogul and lawmaker Delyan Peevski. This definitively confirmed the close criminal and corruption ties between the Bank, the media empire, the judiciary and the government in Bulgaria.

Today, everything that we revealed and predicted nine months ago is fully confirmed by the latest developments in the Hitrino tragedy and the cynical obstructions preventing the families of the victims and the victims from receiving their fair and lawful compensations. The editorial office has an official statement by attorney Nikolay Dimitrov who is authorized to represent all victims of the crash and the explosion. They have filed

claims for BGN 10 million against those responsible for the fatalities and the ruined lives

To guarantee compensations for his clients, Dimitrov has asked for precautionary measures. Several judge panels in the Sofia City Court have allowed a freeze on Bulmarket’s receivables from major fuel traders in Bulgaria. The latter companies have been warned that if they try to conceal their financial relations with Bulmarket, they will be subject to property liability and will undergo a thorough check of their activity on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Union (EU). Information has been also requested from the National Revenue Agency (NRA), which is required to provide data on the financial status and history of the entire Bulmarket DM group.

A connection of FIB with Bulmarket, through the offshore Burundi Services Limited and the individual Georgios Georgiou, has also been established. The Cypriot is among those who have been summoned as witnesses in the compensation case. As Bivol revealed, according to current documents from the Bulgarian and Cypriot Commercial Register, Bulmarket is 60% owned by the unemployed Cypriot Georgios Georgiou. Some time ago, through Legnano Enterprises, he has owned 8% in FIB, which he sold to majority shareholders Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev.

The unemployed Cypriot, with whom Bivol managed to meet (hear the recording here), is also the largest foreign investor in Bulgaria and holds property of over BGN 1.2 billion acquired with loans from FIB. Most of these loans are unsecured and non-performing, as reported by the Bulgarian National Bank (central bank, BNB) and confirmed by the prosecutor’s office.

“I do not know what to tell you. Which companies? I do not understand what you’re talking about,” is how Georgios answered questions about his companies in Bulgaria.

The Bulmarket Group is actually a FIB subsidiary, our investigation showed. Stanko Stankov, who appeared in media reports as the owner of Bulmarket but could not prove it with documents, was detected by our team at the headquarters of the Bank immediately after the explosion. However, Stefan Ivanov, the true person in charge of the operation of the railway transport, was hidden from the eyes of the public and no Bulgarian media, except Bivol, made an attempt to contact him for at least a simple explanation. Obviously a dummy figure, Stefan Ivanov is still hiding from the victims to avoid questions and paying their legitimate compensation.

Stanko Stankov (in the middle) declared himself a 100% owner of Bulmarket to conceal the role of Georgios Georgiou and the FIB link through Tseko Minev (left) and Ivaylo Mutafchiev (right).

Research by Bivol also showed that the parent company Bulmarket DM has over BGN 106 million in loans from FIB. In addition, it was in close business relations with the phantom “VM Corporation”, which cheated the Romanian state with EUR 26 million, our investigation revealed.

Bulmarket refuses to obey court orders and provide information to the victims how and when its frozen accounts in FIB have been emptied and the people of Hitrino cannot obtain at least token justice for the irreversible tragedy they were subjected to.

Following is the statement of attorney Nikolay Dimitrov, a specialist in insurance and contractual law, which we publish without editorial intervention. Documents attached to it are also included.

The lawyer of Hitrino’s victims:

Our office was forced to extend and strengthen the scope of the precautionary measures aimed at ensuring the actual payment of damages by one of the defendants BULMARKET RAIL CARGO after the court cases for compensation of the victims of the Hitrino blast were completed.

When it became clear that BULMARKET RAIL CARGO had cleared its foreign currency reserves from its accounts in banks in the country, we requested new precautionary measures.

These are imposed on the major players in the fuel business in Bulgaria, namely:

LUKOIL – BULGARIA

OMV BULGARIA

OVERGAS HOLDING

SHELL BULGARIA

ROM PETROL BULGARIA

ECHO – BULGARIA

SAXA

INSA OIL

POLISAN

BUL MAX GAS

SCORPION SHIPPING

…as well as on other satellite companies and companies part of the Bulmarket Group for which we have data that they are in complex financial relations with Bulmarket Rail Cargo, namely:

BULMARKET SHIPPING

BULMARKET AUTOTRANSPORT

BULMARKET DM

ASTRA BIOPLANT

The measures against the aforementioned companies consist in the freezing of the financial receivables of Bulmarket Rail Cargo under contracts and annexes to them from 2015, 2016, 2017, for provision by BULMARKET RAIL CARGO of rail transport of liquid, solid and gaseous fuels of the aforementioned companies.

Letters have been sent to all these third parties, including the headquarters abroad of LUKOIL – BULGARIA, OMV BULGARIA, SHELL BULGARIA, ROM PETROL BULGARIA, ECHO – BULGARIA, in which they have been duly informed and warned that if they engage in any commercial transactions aimed at ending or concealing their financial and business relations, this will lead to grounds for us not only to seek financial liability, but also to conduct a thorough audit of the business which they carry out on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and the European Union (EU).

In order to support the freezing of the receivables and their efficiency, we have requested from the National Revenue Agency (NRA), after obtaining the necessary certificates from the court, information on the financial status and history of the defendants BULMARKET RAIL CARGO and BULMARKET DM, as such will be requested against the whole group of BULMARKET DM LTD.

Apart from this, the court, upon our request, allowed a precautionary measure consisting of freezing of money and valuables of BULMARKET RAIL CARGO in a bank branch in Ruse, as this Bank is one of the main creditors of BULMARKET RAIL CARGO and BULMARKET DM and is related to them through BURUNDI SERVICES LIMITED and the individual GEORGIUS GEORGIU.

The same Bank did not comply with the previous orders of the Private Law Enforcement Officer and did not provide information on the assets in the accounts of BULMARKET RAIL CARGO.

As we believe that the event occurred due to the unlawful behavior of the engine drivers employed by the defendant BULMARKET REILE CARGO – a company directly under the control of the other defendant – BULMARKET DM, as well as due to the non-fulfillment of duties of employees of the defendants – BULMARKET DM and BULMARKET RAIL CARGO – to jointly ensure the safety of the conducted by BULMARKET RAIL CARGO transport process and taking into account that there is public information that Bulmarket Rail Cargo operates through Bulmarket DM Ltd, due to the structure of their business, we have asked the court to summon as witnesses the following people:

MOMCHIL TODOROV ARNAUDOV, in his capacity of managing director of the company, which is a partner in BULMARKET DM, namely – Vectra Consult – with address for summoning – the headquarters of the company at 1000 Sofia, 4, Lyuben Karavelov Street;
GEORGIUS GEORGIOU, in his capacity of manager and owner of the capital of the company which is the sole owner of the capital of Vectra Consult, namely BURUNDI SERVICES LIMITED, a foreign legal entity with identification number127526, with address for summoning – the Republic of Cyprus, the city of Nicosia, 12 Mihalakopoulou Street, floor 4, office 401;
STEFAN MARINOV IVANOV, in his capacity of manager of BULMARKET RAIL CARGO, with address for summoning – the seat and headquarters of the company in 7003 Ruse, 11 Tutrakan Blvd., office-center “Bulmarket”, floor 4, office 404;
STANKO DOBREV STANKOV, in his capacity as manager of BULMARKET DM with address for summoning – the headquarters and the seat of the company in 7003 Ruse, 11 Tutrakan Blvd;

The same are to provide evidence on the structure of the business of BULMARKET DM and BULMARKET RAIL CARGO.

At the same time, all expert reports in the course of the criminal proceedings have been prepared and each one unequivocally proves that the main and only cause of the event is the high speed of the train composition. The injunctions of the two engine drivers were also drawn up and are ready since July 17, 2017.

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