Court of Serbia denied the extradition of former banker Tzvetan Vassilev to Bulgaria

The Court of Appeals of Serbia’s capital Belgrade has ruled to confirm that Tzvetan Vassilev, the main suspect accused of the collapse of Corporate Commercial Bank, will not be extradited to Bulgaria.

The former banker and majority shareholder of collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank has been hiding in Serbia since 2014.

This decision of the Court of Appeals in practice conclusively rejects the extradition request of the authorities in Sofia. BGNES reported on May 28 that Tzvetan Vassilev has been granted political asylum in Serbia.

***

Corporate Commercial Bank, Bulgaria’s fourth-largest lender by assets at the time, was placed under special supervision of the Bulgarian National Bank on June 20, 2014, following a bank run. On 6th of November, 2014, the BNB Governing Council revoked CCB’s banking license.

The indictment for the siphoning off of Corporate Commercial Bank was filed by the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office on 20 July, 2018. All copies of the indictment included more than 210,000 pages. 18 people have been indicted. The charges pressed against them exceed 5,000 pages.

The former majority shareholder of Corporate Commercial Bank Tzvetan Vassilev and the former deputy governor of Bulgaria’s central bank (BNB), Tzvetan Gounev, were among the indicted.

Vassilev was indicted on a total of 146 counts. He and the other defendants are alleged to have embezzled a total 2.56 billion BGN. He is also alleged to have led an organised crime group.

Vassilev is in neighbouring Serbia awaiting a court ruling on an extradition request by Bulgaria.

Trial over Corpbank Siphoning Off Began, Vassilev Asks for Discontinuance

WILL FORMER BANKER TZVETAN VASSILEV BE EXTRADITED TO BULGARIA?