KTB Directors: BNB Report Is 'A Lampoon'

After keeping the Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) in a coma for four months, yesterday Bulgaria's Central Bank (BNB) presented to the public an irresponsible lampoon, not a professional audit analysis, said the suspended KTB executive directors in an open letter to the media.

They added the letter is part of a more detailed statement, due to be released on Friday.

“BNB demonstrates either blatant unfamiliarity with the law, or an undisguised manipulation of the public,” reads the letter, published by the BGNES wire service.

According to the KTB directors, the BNB report was misguiding the public “in due order”.

“The Central Bank published informal, unbinding opinions of the consulting audit companies who have no legal value and who are not provided for in the law regarding the conservatorship regime,” the directors write.

According to the KTB directors, the report that found a BGN 4.2 B impairment on KTB balance sheet, was not an official audit, as according to the agreement among the three audit companies and BNB their reports were “not an audit under the International Standards on Auditing” and the auditors “are not bound and assume no responsibility for the reports and the conclusions in them”.

This, according to the KTB directors, meant the audit reports could not be used as a basis for any decisions on the future of KTB, could not be used by anyone else but BNB and could not be deemed an evidence in an investigation.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria's caretaker deputy PM Ekaterina Zaharieva told the BNT public broadcaster that the government is surprised by the size of the impairment.

She suggested that foreign experts be hired to seek the missing money.

“Those BGN 4.2 B did not buy houses and airplanes,” she said. “There are foreign specialists, who can trace the money and we should use them. There are many examples of successful outcomes across the world.”

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