{"id":26219,"date":"2015-03-04T18:05:56","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T15:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/?p=26219"},"modified":"2015-03-10T16:46:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T16:46:00","slug":"the-swiss-bank-accounts-of-leader-and-secretary-of-bulgarian-trade-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/the-swiss-bank-accounts-of-leader-and-secretary-of-bulgarian-trade-union.html","title":{"rendered":"The Swiss Bank Accounts of Leader and Secretary of Bulgarian Trade Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Documents that Bivol examined and validated show that the former President of the Confederation of Labor “Podkrepa” (Support), Konstantin Trenchev, and the Secretary General of the Union, Andrey Varbanov, received in the period 2002 – 2008, hundreds of thousands in the form of donations, sponsorships and loans. And in 2009, CCB opened for them Swiss accounts registered to offshore companies.<\/p>\n

Offshore support<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trade union activity in Bulgaria is clearly very much at the heart of several US companies registered in states with offshore legislation. They regularly have granted donations in cash to the Confederation of Labor (CL) \u201cSupport\u201d. Trenchev has personally signed the contracts for donations.<\/p>\n

Thus, on March 5, 2002, in Sofia, the company Unicon Investments LTD, registered in the offshore state of Delaware, with President Dimitar Gerassimov, donated 50,000 levs in cash. On June 20, 2002, Lancs Corp., from the same state, donated 20,000 levs \u201cfor the needs of the Confederation\u201d, also in cash. On October 10, 2002, La Verne Investments, with President Daniela Zaharieva, donated 20,000 levs for “social training of personnel of the Confederation”.<\/p>\n

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\u0412\u0435\u0440\u043e\u044f\u0442\u043d\u043e \u0435 \u0447\u0438\u0441\u0442\u043e \u0441\u044a\u0432\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435, \u0447\u0435 \u043d\u0430 09.10.2001 \u0441\u044a\u0449\u0438\u044f\u0442 \u0442\u043e\u0437\u0438 \u0413\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0438\u043c\u043e\u0432 \u0435 \u0438\u0437\u0431\u0440\u0430\u043d \u0437\u0430 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0441\u0435\u0434\u0430\u0442\u0435\u043b \u043d\u0430 \u0421\u044a\u0432\u0435\u0442\u0430 \u043d\u0430 \u0434\u0438\u0440\u0435\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0435 \u043d\u0430 \u0446\u0438\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0430\u0442\u0430 \u0444\u0430\u0431\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430 \u00ab\u00a0\u042e\u0440\u0438\u0439 \u0413\u0430\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0438\u043d – \u0411\u0422\u00a0\u00bb \u0432 \u041f\u043b\u043e\u0432\u0434\u0438\u0432, \u0441\u043e\u0431\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442 \u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0443\u043b\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u0431\u0430\u043a. \u0422\u0430\u043a\u044a\u0432 \u0447\u0443\u0432\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0438\u0442\u0435\u043b\u0435\u043d \u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u043f\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0433\u0430 \u0434\u043e\u0431\u0440\u0438 \u043e\u0442\u043d\u043e\u0448\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f \u0441 \u0414\u041f\u0421, \u043a\u043e\u044f\u0442\u043e \u0442\u043e\u0433\u0430\u0432\u0430 \u0435 \u043d\u0430 \u0432\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0442 \u0438 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u043d\u0430\u0447\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435\u0442\u043e \u0435\u0434\u0432\u0430 \u043b\u0438 \u0435 \u043c\u0438\u043d\u0430\u043b\u043e \u0431\u0435\u0437 \u0441\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0446\u0438\u044f \u043e\u0442 \u043d\u0430\u0439-\u0432\u0438\u0441\u043e\u043a\u043e \u043c\u044f\u0441\u0442\u043e \u0432 \u0421\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0438\u0442\u0435.<\/p>\n

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It is probably a pure coincidence that on October 9, 2001, this same Gerassimov has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the cigarette factory “Yuri Gagarin – BT” in Plovdiv, owned by Bulgartabac. Such a sensitive post implies good relations with the party largely representing the Muslim minority in Bulgaria \u2013 Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), which was then in power and the appointment hardly passed without the sanction from the highest place in the \u201cSeraglio\u201d (the name of the residence of the DPS lifetime honorary Chairman Ahmed Dogan \u2013 editor\u2019s note).<\/p>\n

What happened with this money; has it been accounted for in the coffers of the Union; was it deposited in its bank accounts; was it used for the needs of the Confederation and for training?<\/p>\n

Contacted by phone, Dr. Trenchev remembered Gerassimov. “There were donations, of course I personally know that someone named Dimitar Gerassimov helped us then because there were payments for a Congress, but I do not remember on whose behalf. Apparently, one has to see the documents.\u201d People from the headquarters of CL \u201cSupport\u201d also promised to check the archive and answer our questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnion representative\u201d paid for Trenchev\u2019s daughter\u2019s education in the United States<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of 2002, Gerassimov left the Board of Directors of “Yuri Gagarin” and on July 4, 2003, he was appointed by Minister Milko Kovachev in the Board of Directors of “Maritsa Iztok” as “union representative.” Gerassimov held this post until 2008.<\/p>\n

Apart from government jobs, however, Gerassimov was actively developing private business with fuel and food, including abroad, as the company’s records show. In 2005, \u201cthe union representative\u201d Gerassimov already emerged as representative of the now-known offshore Lancs Corp, which on July, 21, 2005, paid the tuition of Konstantin Trenchev\u2019s daughter in a medical school in the United States.<\/p>\n

The generous sponsor has wired to the Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine 21,083.92 US dollars for \u201ctraining and equipment rental\u201d for Maria K. Trencheva. The transfer was ordered from the account of Lancs Corp. in CCB through the partner bank HSBC London.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Trenchev confirmed the information about the sponsorship. “He (Gerassimov – editor’s note) asked, and then everything was paid back to him,” said the union leader and explained that it happened in a time of troubled finances for his family when his wife changed jobs in the United States. Trenchev and his daughter accepted the sponsorship offered by Gerasimov, but then paid him back the entire amount.<\/p>\n

Trenchev\u2019s difficulties apparently lasted long because Gerassimov also paid for the second year of study. The fee of 25,616 US dollars for 2006 has been transferred into two tranches on August 16, 2006, also from the account of Lancs Corp. in CCB. It is also unclear why a sponsorship agreement has been signed between Maria Trencheva and Lancs Corp., and not for example a student loan one. Such contracts for<\/p>\n

cash loans<\/strong><\/p>\n

for hundreds of thousands of euro, levs, and dollars have been granted by the same offshore companies as interest-free loans to the Secretary of CL \u201cSupport\u201d Andrey Varbanov, other documents show.<\/p>\n

On March 19, 2003, Unicon Investments transferred to the ownership Andrey Varbanov 80,000 interest-free US dollars with a term of March, 19, 2013. On December 14, 2005, La Verne Investments granted 100,000 levs until December 14, 2020. On February 14, 2007, Lancs Corporation paid 100,000 euro with a period of return February 14, 2017. Larger amounts are marked in the handwritten notes of the contracts, but it is not clear whether they were repaid. On March 3, 2007, a new company emerged \u2013 CBG Chester Business Group, registered in New Jersey, United States, with proxy Georgi Lyubomirov Iliev. It also gave Varbanov 100,000 euro.<\/p>\n

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What is happening to these companies today? Lancs and La Verne were deleted on the same day \u2013 January, 3, 2009. They were created on the same day \u2013 April 4, 2002, documents from the company registry of the state of Delaware show. The period of their existence suspiciously coincides with Gerassimov\u2019s stint as union representative on the boards of large public companies.<\/p>\n

Unicon Investments is currently still active as the owner of \u201cByala Voda (White Water) – Dolna Banya\u201d, a company that was managed by Gerassimov until March 2011. \u201cCBG- Chester Business Group\u201d owns \u201cEco foods and oils\u201d, which has been previously owned by Gerassimov.<\/p>\n

A link between trade union leader Andrey Varbanov and Gerassimov can be found in the company \u201cSitrad Airline\u201d. The company has been owned by the already deleted offshore company La Verne Investments, and Gerassimov and Varbanov were on the Board of Directors from 2003 to 2007. In 2009 \u201cSitrad\u201d was declared insolvent, because it did not pay its rent in the Interpred building.<\/p>\n

What has Varbanov done with these loans? Has he declared them? Is he intending to repay them? To whom is he going to return them since the two companies are de facto already gone? Bivol sent questions to the trade union headquarters and was told that Varbanov is in the hospital.<\/p>\n

“You will have to ask him. I think he has not received anything,” said Dr. Trenchev on the phone. He explained that the Secretary General is being treated in the Military Medical Academy and is to undergo surgery.<\/p>\n

Gerassimov – “St. Demetrius” for homeland football and bogus financial director of CL \u201cSupport\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to well-paid government posts, topped with offshore activity, Gerassimov is also connected to football. In 2007, he tried to buy “Lokomotiv Plovdiv” no longer as a “trade union representative”, but as “a representative of an American investment fund”. In this he failed, but his passion for the football led him in 2011 to Vidin, where he became known as “St. Demetrius” who saved from bankruptcy the local club “Bdin”.<\/p>\n

The saving was accompanied by a change in the ownership of the club. Gerassimov officially claimed that he did not want to be the owner, but only benefactor. In reality, however, the Seychelles offshore company Toller Ltd, operated by someone named Petar Georgiev Velkov, became a shareholder in the club. The same has taken over the management of “White Water – Dolna Banya” which to this day belongs to the generous donor Unicon.<\/p>\n

Bivol made efforts to contact Dimitar Gerassimov and ask him questions. The President of \u201cBdin\u201d proved hard to find. A possible reason for this discretion was explained by the former union leader Dr. Trenchev: “Over time he (Gerassimov – editor’s note) started abusing our acquaintance. He was posing as our CFO. People came and said so and so, the man spoke to us… And we did not know anything. Finally, in 2011, I was forced to turn to the prosecution, because the man speculated with being our acquaintance and was apparently making some commitments of which we knew nothing,” he said.<\/p>\n

CCB and CL \u201cSupport\u201d – from cash to Swiss accounts<\/strong><\/p>\n

“At the same time each month, politicians and trade unionists were coming out of CCB with lumps in their pockets that they had not had when coming in or with special corporate briefcases in their hands.” Against the backdrop of the above, this statement of a former Director of the Bank no longer sounds so metaphoric.<\/p>\n

But in early 2009, the scheme of funding union leaders evolved from the dangerous carrying around of cash to a modern offshore structure. Trenchev and Varbanov became owners of companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. Accounts have been opened in a Swiss bank on behalf of these companies.<\/p>\n

The process of registration of offshore companies was headed by Svetlana Bahchevanova, who was a trusted person of CCB majority shareholder Tsvetan Vassilev and former senior manager in the telecom BTC. She communicated with the Swiss branch of Trident Trust and the British bank RBS Coutts through an email account registered in Gmail with the initials of KTBsibccb@gmail.com, and not through a Bank\u2019s address. The leaked correspondence elucidates the whole scheme, which is probably applied to other special customers as well:<\/p>\n