Bulgaria’s Bromak Objects to Judges Due to Rule on Scrapping of KTB’s Licence

Bromak, the majority shareholder in Bulgaria’s collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank, has challenged the five-judge panel of the Supreme Administrative Court which is to rule on an appeal against the withdrawal of the lender’s banking licence.

The defence lawyers for Bromak, a company controlled by businessman Tsvetan Vasilev, on Friday asked three members of the five-judge panel to recuse themselves, saying they would be biased against Bromak in their decision.

Bromak challenged the two other judges on the five-member panel, including its chairman Georgi Kolev, earlier this week. Kolev said on Thursday he wouldn’t grant the objection and excuse from the case.

In January, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) upheld the central bank’s decision to cancel the banking licence of Corpbank, Bulgaria’s fourth-largest lender also known by its Bulgarian acronym KTB.

An upholding of the decision by the five-judge panel will open the way for the start of insolvency proceedings against KTB launched by the central bank at Sofia City Court in November last year.