Omani sovereign fund sues Bulgaria over CCB saga, lawyer claims
An Omani sovereign fund that held 30 per cent in Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB) has lodged court action against Bulgaria, seeking damages of 700 million euro, a lawyer for CCB’s majority shareholder claimed on April 27.
The fund sought damages for the way Bulgarian state institutions treated CCB, Konstantin Simeonov told a Bulgarian breakfast TV show, but gave no further details and could not name the court where the complaint was filed, saying that it was an “European institution”.
CCB was put under the central bank’s administration on June 20 2014, which suspended shareholder rights – including those of Omani-owned Bulgarian Acquisition Company II S.a.r.L., which held 30 per cent in the bank. The lender was declared insolvent last week, starting on November 6 2014, when it lost its banking licence.
Simeonov is a lawyer for Tsvetan Vassilev, whose investment vehicle Bromak held the majority stake in CCB. Vassilev is currently in Serbia fighting extradition to Bulgaria, where he would face charges of embezzlement. Vassilev denies wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court dismissed the appeal lodged by several CCB shareholders, including Vassilev and the Omani sovereign fund, against the central bank’s decision to repeal the lender’s licence.
(For full coverage of the CCB situation from The Sofia Globe, click here. Photo of shuttered CCB branch in Sofia’s Lozenets borough: Alex Bivol)
