Son of Indicted KPMG Auditor Holds Senior Post in First Investment Bank Mind the horns!

Vladislav Hadzhidinev, who is the son of the auditor of “KPMG Bulgaria” Krasimir Hazhjidinev, has a high-ranking position in private lender First Investment Bank (FIB), publicly available information shows. He is FIB’s Chief “Private Banking” Expert.

Krasimir Hadzidinev was charged in the case with the failed Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB). The prosecution believes that he has violated his obligations under the Credit Institutions Act and the regulations of the central bank (Bulgarian National Bank, BNB). Together with his colleague Margarita Goleva, who is also indicted, he had found violations in the activities of CCB in the period 2009 – 2014, but failed to report them to BNB. The breaches were not reflected in the audit reports, thus BNB’s supervision was hurdled.

Krasimir Hadzhidinev’s signature also stands under FIB’s audit reports, which unlike CCB received State aid and was not placed under special supervision. As Bulgarian Capital daily wrote, Hadzhidinev has another point of contact with FIB. He is in the Managing Board of the Bulgarian Ski Federation, whose President is Tseko Minev, one of the two FIB majority shareholders.

A family relationship between a bank auditor and a senior manager in the same bank is undoubtedly a factor for conflict of interest. Following revelations of Bivol that over one billion levs in loans have been granted to companies connected with the owners of FIB, there is reasonable doubt whether these facts have been concealed in Hadzhidinev’s audits and whether banking supervision over FIB and interception of illegal practices leading to its drain have been prevented over the years.