Tsvetlin Yovchev: Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB), Property and Dangerous Liaisons Mind the horns!

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After undergoing a document check by employees of the Interior Ministry, journalists have received a call and have been pressured not to broadcast a report about the properties of Delyan Peevski, according to news coverage, aired in prime time in the evening news of the French- German public TV ARTE on Friday.

The said reportage reveals that employees of the Interior Ministry have acted as bodyguards of Delyan Peevski. In violation of the law, they alerted the private security guards of the infamous Member of the Parliament, by providing them with insider information, which led to pressure and censorship. Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev denied these facts, but gave no explanation of how Peevski’s security learned journalists’ personal data.

An investigation of Bivol reveals a connection between Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev and Corporate Commercial Bank, KTB, of banker Tsvetan Vassilev. The bank, which holds a large part of the capital of state-owned energy companies, is the financial backbone of the press group of Peevski and his mother Irena Krasteva.

“Regulus” – the successful consulting business of Yovchev and Ivan Drashkov – was a “dear customer” of KTB

Officer of the National Investigative Service since 1993, promoted to chief of the key “Counterintelligence” unit, Tsvetlin Yovchev left the National Security Agency, DANS, in 2008, after the scandal known as “Galeria” (Gallery), when it emerged that journalists and publishers were spied on and their contacts checked in attempt to search for a mole in DANS.

In November 2008, sole owner and manager Tsvetlin Yovchev established the company “Regulus Consult” LTD. Its seat was 2A “Saborna” street, 3rd floor. On the same date KTB issued a certificate from which shows that the company had an escrow account in the bank in which Tsvetlin Yovchev deposited 5000 levs.

It is well known that not everyone can open an account in the financial institution which holds the royalties of the consultant-hydro-geologist Ahmed Dogan. At that time, media ran the famous advertisement of Tsvetan Vassilev’s bank, entitled “Our customers are dear (in Bulgarian the latter word also has the meaning of pricy – editor’s note) to us. You are welcome after your first million.” These assets’ criteria clearly did not apply for the former head of Directorate in DANS.

The registration documents for “Regulus” were submitted by attorney Iglika Misheva – Bruseva, wife of the former Director of the Territorial Directorate State Reserve in Sofia, Bozidar Brusev. There is an office building at this address; on October 1, 2008, its owners leased the property on the third floor – an apartment of 330 square meters – for a term of three years. The contracting party is not clear because there is no entry in the property registry. No one is answering the listed phone numbers – 9264254 and 9264100.

On November 27, 2008, Tsvetlin Yovchev signed a contract with a new manager – the former Deputy Director of DANS Ivan Drashkov. As evidenced by registered fiscal accounts, in 2008 the company has not engaged in trade activities.

In 2009 “Regulus’” business peeked up. From the financial statement, submitted in 2009, we understand that the address for contact of the company was still the home address of Tsvetlin Yovchev. The company recorded 378 thousand levs income from consultancy and incurred costs of 160 thousand levs.

Instead of dealing with the growing consulting business, Yovchev preferred once again to serve on “the silent front.” After winning the elections, Boyko Borisov initiated major reshuffles in DANS. The former SIC guy (one of the two major crime groups in Bulgaria in the 90s of last century – editor’s note) known as agent “Buddha,” made his leading recruiting officer Mladen Georgiev Chief Secretary of the Agency. Tsvetlin Yovchev was called to head the National Security Agency.

A few days before taking office, on August 4, 2009, Tsvetlin Yovchev sold his shares in “Regulus” on par to Ivan Drashkov with notarized signatures (notary Rumen Dimitrov). Documents for the change were entered by lawyer Ohanes Panikyan.

Drashkov, however, was not striving for a business career either, and was longing to return to the National Security Agency, from where was fired at the end of 2008. On October 16, 2009, the Supreme Administrative Court overturned the decision of the Council of Ministers for his dismissal and Drashkov was restored to work as Deputy Director of DANS in December. A month earlier, on November 9, 2009, Ivan Drashkov transferred “Regulus” company shares to attorney Iglika Misheva – Bruseva for the price of 50 thousand levs. On the same date, Iglika Misheva released Drashkov as manager and appointed as his replacement Rositsa Dafinova Doynova-Evtimova.

However, relations of “Regulus” with the circle “Drashkov” did not stop there. On February 7, 2011, “Regulus Consult” bought from the firm of Ivan Drashkov’s son – “ITD Group” – two apartments (68 and 81 square meters) in the residential complex Druzhba 1. The transaction was fully financed by a mortgage from KTB in the amount of 187820 levs.

On May 26, 2011, Iglika Misheva sold her shares to Rositsa Metodieva Trichkova for a total price of 100 thousand levs. Trichkova released Misheva as manager and took the post. Rositsa Metodieva Bacheva – Trichkova is a certified auditor. On June 2, 2012, “Regulus Consult” merged in “Global Consulting” of Rositsa Trichkova. At the time of the merge, “Regulus” had 200 000 levs in retained earnings.

Apartment from a partner of Borisov, the Beret and Tsiganov

A few months after being appointed to lead DANS, on February 5, 2010, Tsvetlin Yovchev and his wife Michaela acquired an apartment at the foot of Vitosha mountain, in the residential complex “Gardova Glava.” The property of 114 square meters was bought from the company “Buildco” and the purchase was financed with a mortgage loan from “UniCredit” bank. The mortgage, worth 85000 levs, was paid off only two and a half years later, in September 2012, a check in the property registry shows.

The owner of “Buildco” is Iraqi citizen Samir Iskander Francis, who has a remarkable business biography as developer. In the past, Francis, also known as Ibrahim, has been business partner with Boyko Borisov, Zlatko the Beret and Russian criminal “authority” Kostya Tsiganov. An investigation of Bivol revealed that Samir Francis is son-in-law of Gen. Stoimen Stoymenov, a former adviser to President Plevneliev, while Francis’ brother-in-law, Boris Krastev Borisov is an employee of the National Security Agency.

In 1997, Boyko Borisov, Iraqi Samir Iskander Ibrahim, Plamen Tachev Petrov, Nikolay Ninov Kostov, Veselin Ninov Kostov and Ventsislav Hristov Bozhilov established in the town of Cherven Bryag the firm “Prayhyme” Ltd., which engaged in the manufacture of soaps. The fate of the partners in this firm is examined in detail in the investigation of Bivol – “Boyko Borisov from Cherven Bryag to Iraq.”

In March and August 1998, Samir Francis registered two companies with Zlatomir Ivanov Ivanov AKA Zlatko the Beret – “Bingo Nova,” which is located in the underpass of the central railway station and “Z.E.S.,” which was managed by Ibrahim. “Z.E.S.” property is currently levied because of the case against the Beret, who was convicted on first instance to 8 years imprisonment. According to operational information from the services, Samir Francis has been investigated for laundering Zlatko the Beret’s money, but the probe was stopped.

After Boyko Borisov became Mayor of Sofia, a period of prosperity began for the Iraqi’s business as property and building developer. He earned millions through his companies “Stroy Commerce 2004 “and “Buildco,” which turned beneficiaries of scandalous swaps against damage compensations from Sofia Municipality.

It is difficult to say what part of these facts was known to the Chief of the super-agency DANS when he acquired the apartment in “Gardova Glava” in February 2010. But it is a fact that at that time Tsiganov and Francis were partners in the firm SIT -1, and their partnership dated back to 2008.

It is also a fact that in March 2010, Konstantin Tsiganov was arrested on the order of Tsvetlin Yovchev, stripped of citizenship, declared persona non grata and imprisoned in the shelter for foreigners in Busmantsi, awaiting deportation. All this happened just a month after the family Yovchevi bought property from a partner of Tsiganov – Samir Francis.

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