Sotir Tsatsarov

Corporate Commercial Bank (Bulgarian: Корпоративна търговска банка АД), commonly called Corpbank, was a Bulgarian bank. The bank's majority shareholder was Bulgarian businessman Tzvetan Vassilev.[5]

According to The Economist, at another point in time Tsatsarov ordered Bulgaria's national revenue agency to run at a tax audit on Vassilev, after a local activist group called "Protest Network" sent an alert to the Prosecutor General's office, making allegations about a connection between Vassilev, Peevski, and a Bulgarian newcomer politician named Barekov. In response to the “alert”, Tsatsarov ordered a magistrate to investigate all three.[6] The audit of Vassilev's taxes covered ten years of history and was completed in 2012. Peevski and Barekov were both “cleared”. Another tax audit was initiated in 2014, following the attack on the bank and embezzlement charges. It has yet to be completed.

In September 2014, Tsatsarov gave an interview with the media saying, “The financial demise of the bank is no solution for the people who deposited their money there.” According to the Sofia Globe, "He went on to suggest that the existing legal provisions that guarantee deposits of up to 196 000 leva, or 100 000 euro, should be ‘overleapt’ and the bank should be bailed out in full."[7]

In May 2016, Bulgaria's prosecution arrested five officials from the Fund for the Treatment of Children Abroad for corruption and allegedly participating in an organized crime group. Anti-Corruption Digest speculated that political motives underpinned the arrest, as Vladimir Pilosov was appointed new director of the organization in mere hours following the raid, which took place "minutes before the regular session of the council of the fund […] was due to decide on the treatment of 70 ill children abroad." Pilosov had just met with Borisov prior to his appointment as head of the Fund.[20] Previous head, Pavel Aleksandrov, who was arrested in the raid, had been described by Krassimira Velichkova, director of the Bulgaria Charity Forum, as "the only director under whose management this fund has been working."[21]

Balkan Insight characterized the investigation as “the most recent controversial case” and set the record straight that “later the prosecution rescinded some of its serious allegations against the fund’s officials,” but the Fund's reputation was already tainted.[9]

In the summer of 2012, Tsatsarov and the Prosecutor's office charged Ognyan Donev and Lyubomir Pavlolv of the Media Group Bulgaria Holding – which publishes Trud and 24 Chasa – with money laundering. The scandal ultimately resulted in the sale of Trud and 24 Chasa "to new owners" by the end of 2012.[22] The identities of the new owners were not disclosed, according to independent watchdog organization, Freedom House.

Bulgarian citizens organized protests in Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna to demand the resignation of Tsatsarov. One of the protest organizers said, “The credit of trust in the Prosecutor General has been exhausted. The reasons for his remaining in his post are [purely] political.”[23]

A new controversy emerged when Sasho Donchev—owner of Overgaz (a Bulgarian gas company), the newspaper Sega, and head of the Bulgarian Chamber of Industry—was filmed complaining of “the alleged pressure applied to him by Tsatsarov.”[23] According to Balkan Insight, “He claimed Tsatsarov had told him that his behaviour had become “unacceptable”, allegedly referring to his ownership of the traditionally critically minded daily paper and alleged links to a newly formed anti-corruption party “Yes, Bulgaria”.”[23]

Tsatsarov denied Donchev’s claims and accused Donchev of “trying to influence a probe by the state energy regulator into the gas and petrol trade.”[23] Boyko Borisov, the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria and likely next Prime Minister, “exonerated Tsatsarov’s role . . . saying that the prosecutor had likely fallen into a trap set by “red oligarchs”.”[23]

In Bulgaria public opinion polls, distrust in the prosecutor's office is at 94 percent.[24]

In November 2017, Turkish state authorities sent a report to Interpol about cigarette smuggling by the Bulgarian company Bulgartabac. It appears the proceeds are used to finance terrorism.[25] Although Bulgartabac's ownership was restructured several times, Bulgarian journalists claim its beneficial owner is controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski.[26] It has been suggested that Tsatsarov has purposefully avoided investigating Bulgartabac's smuggling due to his good relations with Peevski.[27]