First Investment Bank (FIB), also known as FiBank, blocked millions of the German investor Irving Löbe, on the accounts of his Bulgarian counterparties, on the grounds that the latter had alerted about fraud. According to the subsequent court rulings ordering the seizure of assets, on 22.12.2023, two messages were received through the payment order system in FIB requesting the cancellation of transfers from Lobe. He denies that he asked for the return of the translation.
FIB commented that the bank strictly applies the legal requirements in each area of its activity, including the Measures Against Money Laundering Act. In the present case, the bank claims that it has taken immediate action in compliance with the regulatory provisions for objective reasons, supported by evidence received from a Member State of the European Union. The information received through the officially accepted international channels is with a request for a refund of amounts in particularly large amounts, credited to the account of Linstock Limited BG, on the grounds of “fraud”. In practice, FIB confirms to BIRD.BG the allegation that there was a signal through “Payment gate”.
Investor Irving Löbe, however, in a deliberate letter, denies that he had requested the return of the transfer to his Bulgarian counterparties, in particular Linstock Limited BG. However, the Prosecutor’s Office, following a signal from FIB, wants the seizure of transfers for the implementation of investment projects, which is practically a seizure of the accounts of Lobe’s Bulgarian counterparties. The state prosecution has launched an investigation into money laundering. While this was happening, a member of the board of directors of Linstock Limited BG – Dimitar Popov received a “50/50” offer to release the assets.
This whole sequence of events is strongly reminiscent of the case of “The Eight Dwarfs“, but with the participation of a bank. In this case, it is First Investment Bank. Over time, BIRD has repeatedly investigated cases with this bank, with which it is inextricably linked after the bankruptcy of Corpbank Delyan Peevski. Екипът ни показа документи, които highlight the way the bank has tried or resolved court cases with the help of the lawyer close to Peevski Momchil Mondeshki. Той получава BGN 16.3 million between 2014 and 2018 from FIB, without representing them in any case. Officially, the money was paid to him.”consults” court cases of the bank.
Мондешки – “Троянският кон на Пеевски”, напълнен с милиони от ПИБ
However, the fees of over BGN 1 million for consultation seem like a means of paying money from the bank through a “legal” way, which will subsequently serve as a bribe. The case of Irving Loebe and “Linstock Limited BG” are far from the first to present evidence that the bank is racketeering businessmen. Another irregularity became apparent after the publication of the “Pandora Papers
“. The data leak revealed that the owners of First Investment Bank Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev are real beneficiaries of offshore companies that have received over one billion loans from the bank. In order to melt the problematic exposures, the bank’s management forces businessmen to take assignments that are uncollectable. After that, they were attacked by the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, and in the end their property was bought for nothing by Peevski’s lawyer Alexander Angelov and his associate Georgi Samuilov.
To date, FIB has a reputation as a bank that has been used by criminal groups and shady businessmen. It is alleged that the collection of a share of funds of dubious origin is not a precedent for this bank.
FIB seized nearly BGN 3.5 million.
The facts are as follows. Linstock Limited BG AD is a client of First Investment Bank“. The company is most often engaged in mediation of foreign companies on investment projects in Bulgaria. Linstock Limited BG declares that it is an investor in Austria, where it owns company shares in local companies. Since the summer of 2023, they have been mediating Irving Loebbe (Irving Löbe) on several projects. The German investor has two priority goals – the construction of a photovoltaic plant in Krumovgrad and the purchase of real estate in Sofia. The building is owned by ” AS-Stroyengineering“. The company is in bankruptcy proceedings and therefore will not manage “Stella Park“. The Business Center is blvd. “Tsarigradsko Shosse” 7th km in Sofia. In order to turn the building into a green building, Linstock Limited BG entered into an intermediary contract with ” Innotec“. It is this company that has submitted a letter of intent to Commerce Bank D to buy out its receivables to AS-Stroyengineering. The bank is a mortgage creditor in the insolvency proceedings. Dimitar Popov, who is the director of Linstock Limited BG, says that he made the decision that the candidate buyer of the assignment should deposit the amount for its purchase in D Commercial Bank in order to save time.
On December 18, 2023, 145,000 euros were credited to the bank account of Linstock Limited BG in FIB. The sender is a German citizen Irving Loebe through Sparkkasen bank. FIB has been provided with primary documents certifying the grounds for the receipt of the amount. The transfer is an advance remuneration of the intermediary. On December 19, 2023, an amount of EUR 3,500,000 or BGN 6,877,393.20 – for investment was received from the same bank account from the same sender. On December 20, 2023, Linstock Limited BG deposited a payment order for the amount of BGN 4,950,000. to an account of Innotek with UBB. FIB asks for documents certifying the grounds for receipt of the amount by Irving Loebe and, respectively, the grounds for payment to the counterparty Innotec. Such are provided. On December 21, electronic banking was carried out blocking of BGN 3,351,385.79. without giving any reason. В искането за запор се твърди, че банката е получила две съобщения с искане за канселиране на гореописаните преводи от Irving Loebe с основание “измама”.
Offer “50/50” for lifting the distraint
It is unclear why FIB has not alerted DANS to a problem. A signal to the State Agency for National Security was submitted only on December 29. Meanwhile, on December 22, 2023, messages were sent to a representative of Innotec through the WhatsUp application, pointing to a proposal to conclude an agreement to release half of the money, with the rest to remain with the bank. Popov also received a message on his phone “50/50”, asking him for half of the funds received for the planned investment. On 22.12.2023, Dimitar Popov received a message from Erste Bank – Austria that there was a request for the amounts received in his personal account to be returned to Linstock Limited BG. Popov was informed that First Investment Bank had twice requested a refund on his behalf. In response, he wrote in the Austrian bank’s application that he did not ask for the return of the amounts. Also on December 22, Linstock Limited BG received a notification via e-mail that FIB had charged a fee of BGN 531,886.40. according to the bank’s tariff for “blocking money transfers in connection with fraud”. According to Popov’s lawyers, such a fee can be charged after fraud is established by an enforceable court decision.
On December 28, a day before FIB’s signal, Popov visited the State Agency for National Security (DANS) to alert about the case. He believes that there is a “theft” of funds from FIB. During the conversations with employees of the State Agency for National Security, however, it was clarified that Popov could not file a report under the Law on Money Laundering, as he was not an obligated person under the law. Popov was persuaded by an employee of FIB to sign an agreement for all incoming amounts to be returned to the sender Irving Loeb. However, he refused. On December 29, 2023, the order to suspend a suspicious operation was also issued by Raina Hristova-Yaneva, a proxy of the Director of Financial Intelligence at the State Agency for National Security. It is for BGN 4,950,000, and it is not clear when it was handed over to FIB. At the same time, the bank does not allow disposal of the balance of the amounts received, which is not under attachment. On FIB’s signal, a file was opened in SANS, under number 44/2024 (according to the inventory of the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office) for money laundering. While this was happening, Dimitar Popov negotiated with a person unknown to him, posing as Damyan Nikolov – an employee of the State Agency for National Security. He promises to lift the attachment under certain conditions.
The actions of the State Agency for National Security and the Prosecutor’s Office
SANS and PRB state the allegation in the request for the imposition of precautionary measures that there is “stratification of funds and their successive directing to the accounts of individuals and legal entities, including to the personal accounts of the owner of the company abroad”. They do not take into account the fact that Popov has been living mainly in Austria since 2015, and his activities in Bulgaria are more limited and mainly related to Loeb’s investments. As for the stratification that DANS and PRB claim, Popov explains that it is 145,000 euros, which is a remuneration for Linstock Limited BG. This amount covers mainly company activities – repayment of loans received by bank transfer, payment of dividends, replenishment of accounts and other payments under commercial relations.
The authorities also attach in the distraint documents the banking history of companies associated with Petar Mihalev, sole owner and manager of Innotek, but without indicating what is proven with them or what illegal actions they have committed. Mihalev is an expert in the study and construction of renewable energy sources. Linstock Limited BG presents a framework contract as the basis for the payment to Mihalev. He is engaged as a subcontractor on the Stella Park project, with the aim of turning the office center into a “green building”.
Linstock Limited BG signed a contract for legal services with lawyer Bilyana Dimitrova on January 9 this year, when there were already serious problems with FIB. She is the company’s legal representative before the bank and the Sofia Court of Appeal in challenging the seizure and blocking of funds transferred by Irving Loeb. Popov ordered on January 9 funds that have not been seized to pay the lawyer’s fee, but so far there has been no transfer.
On January 16, 2024, the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office filed a request with the Sofia City Court for the admission of a precautionary measure – distraint on a transfer order in the amount of BGN 260,000. from the account of “Linstock Limited BG” to the account of lawyer Bilyana Dimitrova. The seizure was imposed on January 18. In practice, the account of lawyer Dimitrova was seized and her personal funds were also seized, despite the fact that such a transfer was not issued. Popov and his partners consider the seizures to be “repression” imposed by FIB through state authorities in order to appropriate the assets of the German investor Irving Loebe. In other words, in this case there is a reasonable assumption of the “abuse of rights” against the investment intentions of a German citizen and his Bulgarian counterparties. The attempt to take money “50/50” from the received funds clearly shows that this is a racketeering scheme, probably on the part of FIB’s management.
At the moment, actions are being taken against Linstock Limited BG by the State Agency for National Security, the Specialized Financial Intelligence Directorate – DANS and the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office following a signal from FIB.
There are significant contradictions in the proceedings. The request for precautionary measures initially claimed that the State Agency for National Security had received information about suspicious incoming transfers with ordering agent Irving Loebe. However, the subject of the collateral is an internal transfer from “Linstock Limited BG” to “Innotek”. These are just some of the funds received. It is not clear why the entire amount is not seized if the transfer from Loeb is dubious. No documents related to Loeb have been attached to the file, which is why there cannot be the slightest doubt about him in the State Agency for National Security or the Prosecutor’s Office.
The first false statement on the part of FIB in the case, according to Popov’s lawyers, is that “on December 22 last year, through the payment order system “Payment gate” in the servicing bank, two messages were received with a request for the cancellation of transfers from Irving Loeb. This action is motivated by the grounds of ‘fraud’. According to Popov and his lawyers, such messages have never been sent and have not been attached to the distraint file. In the court ruling, however, these letters are the main reason for granting precautionary measures. Separately, Loebbe personally sent a letter to FIB on January 8 this year to announce that he had not asked for a refund and that he confirmed the amounts received. In response, FIB replied that he was not a client of the bank and should contact the bank servicing him.
The witness against Judge Chenalova
A small but significant detail is hidden in the fact that in the 90s Dimitar Popov – director of Linstock Limited BG” – gravitates around the SIC group. He was convicted of “attempting to evade VAT”. In 2009, on the basis of the verdict, Commission for the Establishment of Property Acquired from Criminal Activity Initiates actions against companies related to him. The court cases ended in 2015 and, accordingly, the company shares of these companies were taken away in favor of the state.
In 2015, Popov and Dimitar Lambovski testified against the judge of the Sofia City Court Rumyana Chenalova for accepting a bribe. The two claim that she received BGN 690,000 in order to “correctly” solve the case of OET against NEK. In view of these facts, Popov seems to be an ideal object for racketeering, and his past is definitely an indication that he is inclined to participate in illegal schemes. In this particular case, however, Popov is a counterparty of a German investor and handles funds that are of clear origin and taxes paid. The man explains that even if he wanted to, he could not pay for racketeering with other people’s money. So he turned to BIRD.
How this case will develop we can only guess, but it definitely seems that the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Agency for National Security are acting as a bat for FIB. In view of the previously known facts, we cannot exclude the hypothesis that someone in FIB is trying to racket the bank’s customers. Whether and how this story will affect Bulgaria’s international image for the moment can only be guessed.
Lead photo/collage: Tseko Minev (below, right) – one of the main shareholders of FIB, the building of “Stella Park” (stop-frame), a view of the buildings on Svetlana Blvd. “Tsarigradsko Shose – 7th km” in Sofia (Google Earth).
Материалът Bank Dwarfs: FIB Blocks Millions of a German Investor in Combination with the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Agency for National Security е публикуван за пръв път на BIRD.
