Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), 96-11-01

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From: Embassy of Bulgaria <bulgaria@access1.digex.net>

EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.

BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY

1 November, 1996

CONTENTS

[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV SUPPORTS UNITED OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

[02] GANCHEV, TOMOV CALL ON ELECTORATE TO VOTE THEIR CONSCIENCE

[03] IMF MISSION LEADER MCGUIRK POSTPONES VISIT FOR TOMORROW

[04] BULGARIAN POLICE MONITORS IN BOSNIA, ANGOLA GET HIGH MARKS

[05] BULGARIAN, VIETNAMESE DEFENCE MINISTRIES SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

[06] AGRICULTURE MINISTER TRENDAFILOV MEETS E.U. AMBASSADOR O'SULLIVAN

[07] PARLIAMENT AMENDS WRONGS AGAINST ETHNIC TURKS IN BULGARIA

[08] BULGARIA INTEGRATES INTO WORLD'S TRADE SYSTEM

[09] CENTRAL BANK DECISIONS

[10] NO PROGRESS ON BULGARIAN-RUSSIAN TRADE LIBERALIZATION

[11] VARNA COURT CONVICTS BOSSES OF FINANCIAL PYRAMIDS

[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV SUPPORTS UNITED OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

In the first round Stoyanov polled some 44 percent of the votes leading by some 17 percent over Marazov who garnered about 27 percent.

"The Marazov-Bokova ticket should win by no means. Otherwise, this will be a catastrophe for Bulgaria both for its domestic policy and in the eyes of the world," President Zhelev said interviewed by a "Troud" reporter. If the Socialist Party candidate is elected president this would prompt such political reshuffles in the next two or three months that Bulgaria will be thrown far back in the past and in certain cases even as far back as its starting position, he stated. This would have worst effect on the foreign policy - on the cadres and in a political aspect, according to Zhelev. There would be a danger of re-politicizing of the army of which there are tendencies even now, Zhelev stated. The independent and unbiased decisions of the Constitutional Court would also be jeopardized, Zhelev said.

Assessing the first round of voting held on October 27 Zhelev noted the low turnout of some 62 percent which compares with some 75 percent in the previous presidential elections. "This is probably due to the grave crisis and the disappointment in politics, politicians and state institutions it has give rise to given that they did not live up to the people's expectations," Zhelev said in the interview. According to him, the people vote for a party or political force rather than for a personality. "It is as if we elect leaders of political formations and not a head of state," Zhelev stated.

On June 1 Zhelev was defeated by Stoyanov in American-styled pre-elections organized by the united opposition. He had not expressed his attitude towards any of the presidential candidates until today. A day before the first round of voting he just appealed to the Bulgarians to go to the polls.

Employing the powers given to him by the Constitution a democratic president will not allow going back into the past, he will stop any restoration aspirations and assist the other democratic forces and institutions, Zhelev said stating his support for Stoyanov. Zhelev once again voiced his view that a strong presidential republic is the most suitable form of government in the grave conditions of transition.

[02] GANCHEV, TOMOV CALL ON ELECTORATE TO VOTE THEIR CONSCIENCE

Under the Constitution, voters will be choosing between the two candidates who polled the most votes in the first round: opposition contender Peter Stoyanov (44 per cent) and the Left's Ivan Marazov (27 per cent). Ganchev garnered nearly 22 per cent of the vote. The distribution of the votes of Ganchev's supporters will largely decide the outcome of the election, analysts say. Tomov, who polled 100,000 votes, said today: "We are calling on our voters and sympathizers to vote according to conscience, but in compliance with our platform."

The Business Bloc leadership today issued a declaration saying that the Bloc's sympathizers voted for Ganchev in the first round because "he was a non-partisan arbiter of the political debate and proved to be a constructive opponent of the executive". The leadership called on BBB supporters to look for the exactly same qualities in Marazov and Stoyanov, which would be "a demanding test" on them.

Political analysts said on Sunday Ganchev's supporters are the principal exponents of the protest vote, both against the present government and the political system. Ganchev says he is against the bipolar model, but many find his conduct inconsistent. In Parliament the Business Bloc supports the Left, while Ganchev's presidential campaign was aggressive both towards the Socialist Party and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) and he criticized Videnov's Cabinet. Analysts predict his supporters will either refrain from voting or most of them will vote for Stoyanov.

George Ganchev's proposal to run in the second round in place of Marazov still stands. Jurists say that while this option is not expressly provided for by the law, it is not ruled out either. "Marazov still has time to save his face, step down from the campaign and let George Ganchev win a walkover against Stoyanov," Ganchev said in an interview with Radio Free Europe on Tuesday.

[03] IMF MISSION LEADER MCGUIRK POSTPONES VISIT FOR TOMORROW

Anne McGuirk's visit was scheduled for Wednesday, October 30. The technical experts on the mission arrived yesterday. The purpose of the visit will be to make a review of the requirements under the fourth stand-by agreement with the Fund. The IMF mission will be familiarized with the macroeconomic indicators for 1997 drawn up by the Government.

[04] BULGARIAN POLICE MONITORS IN BOSNIA, ANGOLA GET HIGH MARKS

With 46 officers and four NCOs the Bulgarian contingent has the largest percentage of officers in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Sources of the UN mission in Sarajevo unanimously praise their performance. The local people are extremely well disposed towards the Bulgarian police, Lt. Col. Ivanov said. They monitor public order maintenance and above all respect for human rights and ensure the proper functioning of all civilian agencies of UN organizations. They are also helping to raise the qualification of local police engaged in enforcing UN directives.

Bulgarian officers hold posts of great responsibility at the mission's headquarters. Lt. Col Nikolai Angelov is in charge of Sarajevo's central zone. Lt. Col. Roumen Stefanov is chief communications officer in Pale. Major Dimiter Yotov is senior personnel officer at the headquarters in Sarajevo. Dr Dimiter Karachiviev is senior medical officer at the headquarters.

In Angola Bulgaria is represented by 16 police monitors. The head of the UN peacekeeping mission has highly praised the Bulgarian contingent in a telegram to the Bulgarian authorities. He is extremely satisfied with their efficiency and language proficiency.

Bulgarian officers hold posts of responsibility in the UN mission. Lt. Col. Slavcho Mitkov is Chief of Logistics of the mission. Lt. Col. Hristo Hristov is regional commander for Lubango and 1st Lt. Nikolai Nenchev is in the special action force.

The Bulgarian contingent monitors the formation of a single Angolan police force and the observance of neutrality by the existing national police. One of their tasks is to ensure freedom of movement and register violations by UNITA.

[05] BULGARIAN, VIETNAMESE DEFENCE MINISTRIES SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Bulgaria and Vietnam will train each other's groups of military officials and will offer vacation facilities to each other's military staff. According to the participants the agreement opens prospects for better cooperation in the future.

[06] AGRICULTURE MINISTER TRENDAFILOV MEETS E.U. AMBASSADOR O'SULLIVAN

The Bulgarian Agriculture Minister dwelled on the financial and economic condition of Bulgarian agriculture and food industry and briefed the EU official on the progress of sowing and the measures taken by the Agriculture Ministry. Enlisting the problems, which this country hopes to solve with EU help, Agriculture Minister Trendafilov stressed the need of extending credit lines at rescheduled repayment to make sure domestic food demand will be met and upgrade outdated farming equipment.

[07] PARLIAMENT AMENDS WRONGS AGAINST ETHNIC TURKS IN BULGARIA

The sitting considered a bill to that effect moved by a group of MPs, said the parliamentary press office. Attending were National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov, the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Labour, Social and Demographic Problems, Yordan Shkolagerski, the chairman of the Committee on Human Rights and Religious Faiths, Velko Vulkanov, other MPs and Rousse Deputy District Governor Angel Takev, the press office said without releasing further details.

[08] BULGARIA INTEGRATES INTO WORLD'S TRADE SYSTEM

Bulgaria's accession to the WTO will obviously help this country boost its trade and political standing, the Minister of Trade believes. In any case, however, the Government should adopt a more aggressive strategy so as to maximize opportunities for Bulgaria's deepening involvement in world trade.

[09] CENTRAL BANK DECISIONS

The BNB Board of Governors further decided to ask the competent legislative authorities to launch bankruptcy procedures against Balkanbank, Business Bank, the Dobroudja Commercial Bank, the Mollov Commercial Bank, the Slavyani Bank, the Economic Bank, the Trade and Savings Bank and the Yambol Bank. The condition of the Bank for Agricultural Credit and Elitbank remains disputable. In late September the BNB placed the above banks under special supervision and appointed regulators in all of them.

The central banks also revoked the licences of 23 financial and brokerage houses over violations of the Banks and lending Act.

[10] NO PROGRESS ON BULGARIAN-RUSSIAN TRADE LIBERALIZATION

The Bulgarian and Russian officials exchanged views on the programme for bilateral economic cooperation. One of the key topics on the agenda addressed the possibility for granting better access of Bulgarian goods to the Russian market and for liberalizing bilateral trade, Stefanov said. The Bulgarian side reiterated its wish to be included in Russia's system for tariff preferences. The system gives such preferences to countries such as Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey and other states close to Bulgaria. Bulgaria's inclusion in the list of countries enjoying tariff preferences would help it overcome its negative trade balance with Russia.

Members of the Russian delegation admitted that they had not been authorized to hold talks about the tariff preferences demanded by Bulgaria at this particular moment, Bulgarian national radio correspondent to Moscow said. Instead, Russia repeated its proposal for the establishment of a free trade zone, which, however, can take place in two years' time at the earliest. In return for this, Bulgaria was offered tariff preferences for goods which are not produced here. Bulgaria not only failed to be granted tariff preferences but goods among its traditional exports to Russia were included among commodities, such as beverages and tobacco, placed under stricter customs regulations which Russian imposed in the summer.

No talks have been held as regards separate positions, Stefanov said. He stated that the granting of tariff preferences for Bulgarian goods on the part of Russia is not tied with setting up of a free trade zone. Stefanov, however, did not deny that the talks failed to produce any concrete result. The officials did not set a date for holding the next meeting of the intergovernmental committee which was initially expected to take place in November. Another fact that added to the difficulties in the negotiations was that the Russian side is yet to appoint its new chairman of the intergovernmental committee after the resignation of Russian finance minister Vladimir Panskov.

[11] VARNA COURT CONVICTS BOSSES OF FINANCIAL PYRAMIDS

The quick-money fund Tako was set up in April 1995. In a month's time its bosses attracted 108 million leva (over 4 million US dollars at current exchange rates), excluding interest of about 80 million, from 1,740 investors. There are only 1,7 milion leva in the bank account of Tako, which is blocked. To get their money back, the investors have got to sue the pyramid as private persons.

Tako was one of the smaller financial pyramids in Bulgaria most of which collapsed in the middle of last year. Investigative proceedings in 17 cases have been initiated on charges of gross embezzlement, fraud and forgery. 140,000 investors were cheated out of their money in these 17 cases. The "pharaohs" attracted a total of 13,000 million leva, an analysis of the National Investigative Service shows.

The quick-money schemes first came into being in Bulgaria in 1990-1991 in the form of informal lottery games. The first pyramid structures appeared in 1993-1994. They provided banking and lending services, raising funds from investors based on voluntary contracts. Most of them operated in northeastern Bulgaria.

According to the Deputy Head of the Specialized Economic Department of the National Investigative Service, Stefcho Georgiev, the pyramids are characterized by the attraction of a large number of investors on promises for unrealistically high profits, expanding the structure to provide money for the dividends paid to first-come investors, no business activity, concealing and transferring the funds raised abroad.

According to the analysis of the National Investigative Service, the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB, the central bank) is most to blame for the operation of the Ponzi schemes. The central bank did not exercise adequate control on brokerage agencies, financial and brokerage houses and companies which started to attract deposits and offer loans, i.e. conduct bank transactions without being licensed for it. In late May, 1995 the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Penal Code which classified unlicensed banking activities as crime. The BNB suggested draft amendments to the Penal Code already in 1992 which, however, were not approved by the National Assembly.

Seeking to skirt the law, the 'pharaohs' would accept money as 'trusteed funds'. Their investors were made holders of shares before the passage of the Securities Act (in mid-1995) and that in the absence of a real stock market, Mr Georgiev said. In his view, tens of thousands of citizens withdrew their bank savings and sold their property to invest the money in pyramids.

Stung investors can be compensated only with the property of the pyramids and their founders. There are no legal grounds for compensating victims of money-spinning schemes by the State, a parliamentary commission of inquiry set up in mid-1995, said. Victims of pyramids held numerous protest rallies and sit-ins, demanding compensation of their losses by the government.

Some of the pharaohs have been detained and Interpol is searching for twelve more abroad. Michael Kapustin, chief of LifeChoice, one of the most talked about pyramids in Bulgaria, was recently extradited from Germany at the request of the Bulgarian Prosecutor General's Office. He has been charged with embezzlement of USD 5 million, fraud for USD 7-8 million and misappropriation of over 4.7 million. From June 1993 to June 1994 Kapustin transferred some USD 18 million out of this country, according to unofficial data.

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