In 2010, a group of eco-activists and journalists organized a protest against the intentions to build up the Coral Beach. A protest on the beach itself, widely covered by the Bulgarian and even some European media. The association “Let’s Save Coral” was created, which aimed to protect the beach. Its founder and member of the Management Board is the future Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kiril Petkov. Eleven years later, Kiril Petkov had to leave the management of the association because he became caretaker Minister of Economy. This happens with forged documents and forged signatures, and the documents were submitted to the Registry Agency by lawyer Lena Borislavova with a fake power of attorney from the chairman of the association, Atanas Rusev, an investigation by the Bivol website showed. The documents themselves were also falsified by adding signatures. https://bivol.bg/podmqnagate1.html
The background
“A fifty-year-old man in a swimsuit takes the microphone, introduces himself and tells his story briefly. A story in which many Bulgarians will be recognized. He says: “In 1990 I went to Canada with the “Cuban planes” (then the Sofia-Havana flights had a stopover in Canada, which was a golden opportunity for the first people leaving after the fall of the regime). Not to escape from my country, but to see the world. Because later we were not allowed to travel because of visas… I am a biologist. I work everywhere in the world – from the Amazon to the North Pole. Now I work on the island of Guam. But like every summer, I return to this beach and to this small campsite. The proof that I love this place is in front of you, this is my 30-year-old son, conceived here. That is why I want to thank you for your mobilization to save Coral Beach from the clutches of developers.” About a hundred people gathered this Saturday, August 7, applauded warmly, while a young man at the bottom of the crowd – the “proof” in question becomes a little redder under the scorching sun on the Black Sea coast. attended the protest of “Coral”. It is easy to guess that the 50-year-old biologist is Petko Petkov, father of Kiril Petkov, and Petkov himself is the “proof”. The reason for the protest is the intentions to build a huge holiday complex on the dunes behind the beach. A year earlier, investigative journalists Assen Yordanov and Atanas Chobanov revealed in a publication on the website Mediapool how the municipal lands behind the Coral Beach were sold after a political corruption deal between the then mayor of Tsarevo Petko Arnaudov (BSP) and the coordinator of the UDF in Burgas and future mayor from GERB Dimitar Nikolov. Against promises of investments, dozens of acres were sold at a negligible price. Investments do not happen, but the lands are resold at a huge profit. A group of people around Nikolov are cashing tens of millions of euros.
Initially, the Board of Directors of “Let’s Save Coral” included the chairman Lilia Popgancheva, Kiril Petkov, attorney-at-law. Svilen Ovcharov, Elina Davidova, Tsveta Baliyska and the author of these lines Atanas Chobanov (then at Bivol). The association was registered in Sofia and in the following years was active in the media and as a sender of signals to the institutions in order to save the beach from construction.
The association is often attacked in the brown media of Delyan Peevski and its most famous members, such as the author of these lines, received personal attention in denigrating articles full of slander. In parallel with the media attacks, there was an obvious reluctance of the institutions to solve the case – the then Minister of Regional Development Rosen Plevneliev conveniently forgot to pay BGN 20. court fee.
However, the civic efforts yielded results and the construction of one of the last wild beaches never began. In 2017, Coral Beach became one of the three beaches for environmentally friendly tourism, behind which it is forbidden to build.
Replacement
Kiril Petkov’s participation in the association was not particularly noticeable. He was certainly not identified as an enemy of oligarchic interests and did not become the subject of denigration media campaigns, unlike Atanas Rusev, Vaso Gyurov, Atanas Chobanov and other more active members of the association. At some point, however, Petkov’s participation in the management board of the association became a problem. He must take the post of Minister of Economy in the caretaker government of Rumen Radev and leave all companies and associations in order to fulfill the legal conditions for compatibility. Why did Petkov not ask to be dismissed from the Board of Directors of the association “Let’s Save Coral” in the normal order, notifying the members of the association and organizing a general meeting? It is unlikely that anyone would cause him a problem, and the law provides for deadlines for the elimination of incompatibility, if any. It is enough to declare non-compliance with the position held when taking office and to start the procedures for his removal, which may be delayed for objective reasons, but no one will question the will of the Minister to comply with the letter of the law. Instead, steps of an openly criminal nature have been taken – falsification of documents, preparation of documents with false content and their submission to the Registry Agency. As Bivol has established, the documents incriminate Lena Borislavova, who at that time was a lawyer in the law firm of Guginski and Djingov, in falsifications. It is not about one, but about several documents, the most important of which is a power of attorney signed by the chairman of the association, Atanas Rusev. On the basis of this fake document and with her lawyer’s qualified electronic signature, Lena Borislavova entered several more documents in the Registry Agency, in which forged signatures were also found – a list of members of the association, a list of members of the Management Board, a decision of the Management Board to delete Kiril Petkov and enter in his place the person Martin Dragulev, who is close to Petkov. The entry is registered with number 20210519084335 and anyone who has an electronic signature can download the documents from the Registry Agency here. Atanas Rusev told BIRD that at that moment he did not know Lena Borislavova at all, he did not give a power of attorney and his signature was grossly falsified. His reaction on the social network Facebook was emotional: “Such impudence and arrogance… I can’t even imagine. And they have done it.” https://www.facebook.com/atanas.rusev.90/posts/pfbid0oAxhuNEBwwthEy5jdCdFWGGL6ND7A1CeSE2VKEYLte2JRknCnyBgidkDh9LyWAXql Simultaneously with Petkov’s dismissal, Martin Dragulev was registered as a member of the Management Board. This person, close to Petkov, took his place in all companies that Petkov formally left. Dragulev does not meet the conditions to become a member of the Management Board, as he was not a member of the association. Obviously, the purpose of his entry was for Kiril Petkov to retain control in the association through his proxy. This also explains why Petkov did not leave the association in the regular way, but through fakes and criminal substitution.
In a prosecutor’s grip…
All this has been known to law enforcement agencies since the summer of 2023, when the members of the Management Board established the fraud with their signatures and filed a report with the State Agency for National Security. The State Agency for National Security (DANS) conducts an inspection and sends the data to the Prosecutor’s Office. Pre-trial proceedings were initiated, which began to “journ” between the Sofia City and Sofia District Courts. 38008/2023/ As of 24/04/2024, the investigation period has been extended and data from the Directorate of Internal Affairs are expected, according to a reference in the electronic portal of the PRB.
According to Bivol, which published the numbers of the files, the procedural actions for the past 8 months included the questioning of more than 15 witnesses by a police officer in the Fifth District Department of the Sofia Police Department. The media also reports that the Sofia Regional Prosecutor’s Office has seized the case and sent it for investigation of… Regional Prosecutor’s Office – Burgas. If this is the case, it is obviously a matter of kicking the ball and scrambling the investigation. There is no logic for the investigation to be conducted in Burgas, since the association is not registered in Burgas, but in Sofia. The submission of the fake documents also took place in Sofia, as evidenced by the correspondence address of Lena Borislavova’s office. In addition, both the possible perpetrator – Borislavova and the possible instigator – Petkov, are political figures under the jurisdiction of the Sofia City Court and must be investigated by the relevant prosecutor’s office. However, there is logic if it is assumed that such a significant case with possible political consequences has been taken under “special control” by the authorities of the Prosecutor’s Office, in which, as is known, the word of the former non-coalition partners of Boyko Borisov and Delyan Peevski is heard. And on which it depends whether the prosecutor’s bat will fall on Borislavova and Petkov, or will pass them by. Lead photo: Atanas Rusev speaks at a protest against the construction of Coral. Source: Facebook page of “Let’s Save Coral”
Материалът Lena Borislavova replaced the manager of “Let’s Save Coral” with fake documents е публикуван за пръв път на BIRD.
