Bulgaria PM Blesses Tycoon as Owner of Cash-Strapped FC

Vesselin Mareshki is best known for the iniexplicably low prices of the medicines that his drug stores sell, spelling the death of many smaller pharmacies nearby. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's prime minister, an avid football fan, has personally orchestrated the take-over of a financially troubled Plovdiv-based side by a controversial businessman, founder and owner of a large low-cost drug store chain.

"It took Prime Minister Boyko Borisov five minutes to convince me to take over Lokomotiv Plovdiv. One million levs have already been transferred to the club's accounts to assure its financial stability and this is just the beginning," Mareshki told a crowd of fans.

Lokomotiv former owner Konstantin Dinev said in a statement on Monday that he suspends financial support for the Plovdiv-based side, champions in 2004. Dinev said he is willing to sell his shares for one Bulgarian lev.

Vesselin Mareshki is a controversial Bulgarian businessman, founder and owner of the eponymous large low-cost drug store chain, whose fortune is estimated to exceed BGN 95 M.

He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of the coastal city of Varna in the local elections in October last year, supported by an initiative committee and a coalition of smaller parties.

Mareshki's name was linked to allegations of vote buying during the previous local elections, when he also ran for mayor of Varna.

Back then he allegedly handed out banknotes of BGN 100 to teachers who had walked off the job in protest against small wages. The businessman had promised them more money in case he become elected, which he failed to do.

Police searched his offices, but tensions with the country's law enforcement have apparently eased during the term of the current GERB government.

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