Bulgarian Police Reports Robberies, Bank Denies

A mystery has developed in Bulgaria over the week after police and prosecutors announced two robberies of bank safes in major cities of Varna and Veliko Tarnovo, while the bank denied the existence of such incidents.

In the case of Velko Tarnovo, one of the safes allegedly broken into was hired precisely by the local Prosecutor's Office, according to information released by the prosecution Thursday.

"There are no signs of forced entry, but the contents of our safe are missing," stated the prosecution spokesman without giving further details, but adding that a number of scenarios are under consideration.

Together with other bullion missing from the Veliko Tarnovo branch, the whole sum of the robbery is said to ammount to some BGN 344,700 and USD 16,000.

The Varna case has 2 diamonds, BGN 40,000 and USD 10,000 missing from a private safe.

Both alleged robberies have occured at branches of Bulgarian-owned First Investment Bank (Fibank), which has intriguingly resolutely denied the veracity of police reports.

"No unauthorized acces to our bank halls throughout the country has been registered. No missing funds of clients or the bank have been registered either," reads the official statement of the bank.

Wednesday sources from First Investment Bank had said that there are discrepancies between what the bank has experienced and the police reports, speculating that perhaps clients had filed false complaints with the police in an attempt to defraud the bank.

Now with the prosecution in Tarnovo giving a signal its own safe was breached too, the mystery around the case only deepens.

Thursday Fibank released a further statement, saying its treasuries in Veliko Tarnovo and Varna have not been broken into, and that they will give no further information, as police investigations are underway.

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