Bulgarian prosecutors say Liechtenstein investigating Corpbank
(Reuters) – Liechtenstein is investigating the main owner of Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), Tsvetan Vassilev, and have asked for information about him, Bulgarian prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Corpbank was hit by a run on deposits in June, triggering Bulgaria’s worst financial crisis since the 1990s. Vassilev was charged with embezzlement in the wake of the bank run, and gave himself up to authorities in Serbia after an international arrest warrant against him. He is awaiting an extradition process there.
Bulgarian national radio said Liechtenstein was investigating Vassilev for possible money laundering offences.
“We confirm officially that Bulgarian prosecutors have received a request from … Liechtenstein for Tsvetan Vassilev because there is an investigation of him there the scope of which we do not know,” a spokeswoman for Bulgaria’s prosecutors said.
“This is the first time I’m hearing about that,” Tsvetan Vassilev’s lawyer Konstantin Simeonov told Reuters. “I spoke with Tsvetan Vassilev today and then with my colleagues in Serbia but I have no information about something like that. Neither the prosecutors nor anybody has contacted me on this issue.” (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova and Angel Krasimirov; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Jason Neely)
