Finance Ministry – A Bulgarian “Godfather” Tale Mind the horns!

The 181-square-meter apartment, in which Bulgarian Finance Minister, Vladislav Goranov, has been living for six years without paying any rent, is owned by Snezhana Sarieva, who is the wife of Goranov’s godfather, Ivan Sariev. The fact that the apartment is owned by his godfather was announced by the Minister, himself, during a parliamentary sitting.

The apartment in the luxury “Este” development had been acquired in 2011 for BGN 382,560. The seller is “Estate Properties”, whose owners are the wealthy Domuschiev brothers. Goranov had been living in the apartment without paying rent since 2012. In addition to this apartment, Snezhana Sarieva has bought two garages.

Reference from the Property Register for the purchase of the apartment in 2011

Ivan Hristov Sariev is the son of the lieutenant colonel Hristo Sariev from the Communist regime’s secret services, State Security (DS). Sariev has been a lecturer on “information management” at the notorious Sofia Library College, often associated with former agents of the DS and circles around Ahmed Dogan, the Lifetime Honorary Chairman of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), largely representing the Bulgarian Muslim minority. Sariev has been an advisor to former Finance Minister, Plamen Oresharski, who is also a former Prime Minister. Furthermore, Sariev is a high-ranking Freemason. He has a business dealing with electronics and recycling. His wife seems to be more active in the business at the moment and participates in numerous companies.

Sariev’s son – junior expert at the Ministry of Finance

Ivan Sariev

Ivan and Snezhana Sarievi have two sons. One of them, Hristo Sariev, has worked in the Ministry of Finance. Judging by his Facebook profile, he, himself, has listed this job there with a start date in February 2015. According to the profile, he left the position at the end of the same year. At that time Vladislav Goranov was Minister of Finance in the second Borisov government.

Hristo Sariev has been a junior expert in the Economic and Financial Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Finance and as such has participated in committees deciding on the winning bidders in public tenders. This is evident from a protocol that is public information and can be seen on the website of the Ministry of Finance. It is dated May 22, 2015.

The young Sariev is also a neighbor of Goranov. In 2013, he acquired an apartment of 60 square meters and a garage in the same luxury housing development for BGN 193,883. The apartment is located in the same building as Goranov’s. It is worth noting that the price per square meter paid by Hristo Sariev is 50% higher than the price paid by his mother for the apartment where the Minister lives.

The Prosecutor’s Office announced today (11.23.2018) that the Prosecutor General had ordered a probe into crimes under Art. 283 and Art. 304b of the Penal Code in connection with Goranov’s rent-free home. The probe has been assigned to the Committee for Combatting Corruption and the withdrawal of illegally acquired property (KPKONPI) (sic).

Vladislav Goranov also rose to fame some time ago with a photo from 2010 in the company of the DPS lawmaker, media tycoon and former head of the National Security Agency (DANS) Delyan Peevski. Goranov was then Deputy Minister of Finance. On media questions about what the two had discussed, Goranov replied that he has had nothing to do with Peevski and that they simply happened to be in the same place at the same time.

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