Companies Connected to Controversial Lawyer Acquire Properties Used as Collateral in Collapsed Bank Mind the horns!

Momchil Mondeshki is the “third person” in the recorded and leaked scandalous conversations between former judges Vladimira Yaneva and Rumyana Chenalova known as “Yaneva Gate”. In one of these conversations, the lawyer from Lovech, famous in legal circles as a power broker and Yaneva’s piggybank when she was President of the Sofia City Court (SCC), demonstrates closeness with the backstage rule. Speaking on behalf of the latter, he requested from Yaneva “the withdrawal of the one in Ivo Datchev’s case”. Ivo Datchev is the judge in the case of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) and he did withdraw. However, Mondeshki’s connections with the failed lender do not stop here. Christy Marinova, an accountant from his brother’s company, became a trustee of CCB. Bivol’s investigation established that with the help of private enforcement agent (PEA), Stoyan Yakimov, known from scandalous cases, companies connected to Mondeshki have managed to acquire properties of the bank for a reduced price.

The judicial element is only one part of the “CCB Saga”

The lawyer from the Black Sea city of Varna, Angel Donov, and the accountant from the town of Troyan, Christie Marinova, were appointed new trustees of the bankrupt bank in November 2014. Only Lazar Iliev remained from the old team. Shortly before the reshuffle, the central bank – Bulgarian National Bank, BNB – completed the list of bank trustees. In October 2015, from 25 trustees, approved by BNB, the list grew to 32. Theodora Drenska – former MP from the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity of former King and Prime Minister, Simeon Saxe-Goburg – ended being among them. According to well-informed sources, she is close to the indicted former SCC President, Vladimira Yaneva.

Stefan Georgiev also became a trustee. He is believed to be the husband of Zornitza Gladilova – Georgieva – a judge in the Commercial Division of the SCC. Maria Shukerova Brazinska, wife of Milen Bazinski, one of the busiest PEAs in Sofia and a powerful factor in enforcement proceedings, also ended in this list, together with Angel Donov and Christie Marinova.

The fact that Marinova was a long-time accountant of Mladen Mondeshki is a small, but important detail. Mladen is the brother a Momchil Mondeshki, the mysterious man from the “Yaneva Gate” recordings, who is more popular as the “lawyer” of controversial mogul and lawmaker Delyan Peevski. Few people know that Mondeshki gained legal “experience” with Nikolai Banev, another controversial businessman. Mondeshki has written in his CV that he was a legal adviser in Banev’s plant in Kazanlak.

Immediately after the new trustees took office, CCB started working with well-known PEA Stoyan Yakimov. According to sources of Bivol, Troyan lawyer Matey Mateev and his colleague Bobby Bozhilov, who is the husband of judge Stanislava Kazakova, also from the Commercial Department of the SCC, are dealing with the claims against the debtors of CCB.

One of these debtors is the Pleven-based company “D & G Invest” JSC. The loan of the company in CCB has as collateral a mortgage on lucrative offices in Sofia on 95-97 James Bourchier boulevard. Three enforcement cases on the docket of PEA Stoyan Yakimov were launched against the company, with the enforcement proceedings involving precisely two of these offices in the upscale Sofia district.

Due to the fact that the company also owed money to other creditors, the enforcement cases were attacked in the Pleven District Court with requests for their termination. The court upheld the claim of “Capital City Property” JSC, which, according to the Trade Register, is owned by Radoslav Petrov Milanov. The claim of of “Capital City Property” was actually an attempt to rescue property from the collapsed CCB. The Pleven District Court ruled in favor of the company and stopped Yakimov’s cases against the debtor. Then, the CCB trustees withdrew the writs and the cases were terminated.

Days later, rather than appealing the decision, the trustees, with the same writs of execution and again with Yakimov, started new enforcement cases. Naturally, they had the same subject and involved the same parties. Such action, according to the Pleven Court, is unacceptable and PEA Stoyan Yakimov has ignored the court decision in favor of the creditor in the enforcement case (CCB) and has circumvented the law.

The Pleven Court stopped the re-initiated cases as well. This time, the CCB appealed before the Court of Appeals in Veliko Tarnovo and the rule of the Pleven Court was rejected. So, in April 2016, one of the offices at the address, with an area of 192 square meters, was commissioned by PEA Yakimov for 280,000 levs.

The “unexpected” buyer was the “Solid” 85 company. This is the company of Momchil Mondeshki’s brother – Mladen. According to a publication in the Bulgarian Capital daily, its accountant was Christie Marinova. Shortly before the purchase, Mladen Mondeshki took a loan from First Investment Bank (FIB), using a property in Troyan as collateral.

With help from “bad apple” private enforcement agent Companies Connected to Controversial Lawyer Acquire Properties Used as Collateral in Collapsed Bank

De facto, CCB trustee, Christie Marinova, is associated with the Mondeshki family, while a company owned by this family emerges as the buyer of property seized from the Bank. Naturally, the price at which such property is sold, according to experts, is below market cost.

Right of reply from PEA Stoyan Yakimov

We received via email a letter from PEA Stoyan Yakimov, demanding a right of reply. Bivol always follows the ethical rules of journalism and published (in Bulgarian) without editorial changes the position expressed by Mr. Yakimov. He rebuts the information that the two offices have been sold at below-market prices.

Nevertheless, we must point out that Stoyan Yakimov’s name is really a known one and has emerged over the years in various media in publications connecting him to activities associated with Deliyan Peevski, CCB and FIB.

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