COURT HEARING FOR THE EXTRADITION OF FORMER CORPBANK MAJORITY SHAREHOLDER POSTPONED

The High Court in Belgrade postponed the hearing for the extradition of the former majority shareholder of Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) Tzvetan Vasilev for 16th of March, BNT special envoy Ivo Nikodimov said on 24th of February. The Serbian lawyer of Vassilev appeared in court today and presented a sick note saying that Vassilev had flu and could not attend the hearing.

The Bulgarian authorities requested the extradition of the former banker for alleged embezzlement of 206 million BGN from Corporate Commercial Bank.

In March 2015, the first instance court in Serbia had ruled to extradite Vassilev, but the Court of Appeals ruled to overturn the decision a week later. Whatever the ruling of the High Court would be, the final decision on Vassilev’s extradition will be made by the Minister of Justice of Serbia.

On 9th of February, Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office requested assistance from two EU institutions in relation to the difficulties in securing the extradition of Tzvetan Vassilev from Serbia.

In a letter addressed to the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe and the European Committee on Crime Problems, Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor, Sotir Tsatsarov called for urgent consideration of the case.

The two year term for the investigation will expire in the summer of 2016. Meanwhile, the report prepared by AlixPartners Services UK LLP on tracking the assets of the insolvent Corporate Commercial Bank was sent to the Bulgarian Parliament’s security department on 24th of February. For a second day, the report has been accessible to the MPs, who can get familiar with the content, but under the condition they adhere to the requirements of the confidentiality clause.

The discussion on whether the report should be declassified or not continues.