Tycoon Implicated in Bulgaria's Biggest Pension Fund Syphoning

Businessman Ivo Prokopiev holds a 51% stake in Economedia, which publishes influential “Capital" and "Dnevnik" newspapers. Photo by BGNES

A Bulgarian tycoon has allegedly syphoned millions of levs from the country’s biggest private pension fund Doverie, a watchdog claims.

The findings of Bulgaria’s Financial Supervision Commission come to confirm the findings of BGNES news agency, which has recently investigated the case.

Businessman Ivo Prokopiev, who holds a 51% stake in Economedia, which publishes the influential Capital newspaper and Dnevnik.bg news page, has syphoned close to BGN 100 M from Doverie, a major pension provider in Bulgaria, over the last three years, according to the investigation.

Prokopiev allegedly resorted to a number of investment tricks, such as issuing large bonds, followed by the transfer of liabilities to hollow companies.

Only the repeated interventions of the Financial Supervision Commission prevented the draining of the pension fund, the watchdog said.

Alfa Finance Holding, a Bulgarian industrial and financial group led by Ivo Prokopiev, has vehemently denied the allegations.

In an official statement, circulated to the media, the company slammed what it called "the deliberate and illegal campaign against Alfa Finance Holding and Ivo Prokopiev," putting it down to the independent editorial policy of Capital and Dnevnik.

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