A Russian man suspected of espionage in Sweden took a Bulgarian “golden passport”. Has he been detected by DANS?

Russian businessman Stanislav Aleshchenko is wanted in Sweden on suspicion of espionage and fined 70 million euros in unpaid taxes, Swedish media reported. A check of the BSRD showed that the same person had acquired a Bulgarian “golden passport” under the name Stanislav Valentinovich Aleschenko. This has become In 2017, the State Agency for National Security (DANS) has proposed the revocation of Bulgarian citizenship for only one Russian citizen with a “golden passport”. It is not clear who he is, but if it is not about Aleschenko, then there is a serious problem.

According to Swedish media reports, the 50-year-old Aleschenko bought an expensive property next to a secret military facility in Sweden, where the naval headquarters are located. From his house there was a direct line of sight to a secret Swedish naval base where Swedish submarines stood.

His wife lived permanently in the Scandinavian country, and Aleshchenko himself claims that he only visited her. But Sweden’s tax authorities have asked Switzerland for details of his bills and credit card movements. So they found that Aleschenko spent his money mainly in Sweden and as a resident was subject to taxation. He was fined nearly 20 million euros.

Garage investor

Stanislav Valentinovich Aleschenko, born in July 1972, has acquired a Bulgarian passport by presidential decree 135/22.12.2017 and his file is numbered 4532/2016. His name appears in a list of dozens of foreign citizens who have received Bulgarian “golden passports” in exchange for investments in securities or a five-year deposit in a bank.

In the Bulstat register, the name of Stanislav Aleschenko appears in his capacity as a real estate owner since 2014. As an address for correspondence Stanislav Aleshchenko has indicated… garage number 8, which is located in Varna, in “Saltanat” area number 81. However, this is not the exact address of a building, but is a common address of the Seaside Park in Varna, which houses the Dolphinarium and dozens of other residential buildings.

However, no transaction is found in the Property Register in his name neither as a natural person nor as a company with an UIC number from Bulstat. This may mean that either no property acquisition deal has been reached, or Aleshtchenko’s deal is carefully hidden in the register.

While moving his correspondence about the “golden passport” from the Varna garage, Aleschenko, it turns out, resided permanently in Sweden. This raises the question whether his investment in Bulgaria is a fraudulent scheme aimed only at obtaining European citizenship.

After pressure from the European Commission, Bulgaria had to change its law on “golden passports”. Thus, in March last year, the option to obtain a Bulgarian passport for purchased government securities over BGN 1 million or a deposit above this amount was dropped.

Together with the amendments to the Citizenship Act, the MPs adopted that the State Agency for National Security should check the existence of grounds for revocation of naturalization in all files on the acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship and the results to be given to the Minister of Justice. This had to happen within 6 months after the entry into force of the changes in the law.

The Russians are dear to us.

According to information from the State Agency for National Security (APIA) received at the end of October 2022, SANS has established data on non-maintenance of investments and has launched a procedure to revoke the naturalization of five persons: 1 person with Egyptian citizenship, 1 person with Russian citizenship and 3 persons with Chinese citizenship.

Thus, it becomes clear that SANS did not consider other factors as a reason for the withdrawal of citizenship, but limited itself to a formal check whether the investments were available.

Because of this formal approach, prominent Russians close to the Kremlin regime will retain their Bulgarian citizenship since DANS has found nothing wrong with them. According to the BRRD and Mediapool, among them are a member of parliament from Putin’s party, a deputy defense industry minister of Russia, the owner of a Russian oil company, three Russian top bankers and a general director of a structure-defining enterprise in Russia.

The case of Aleshchenko requires special attention and it is important to understand whether he is the only Russian who will be deprived of citizenship.

If it is not about him, it is a serious problem in the State Agency for National Security (DANS), which has not been able to identify him as a threat to national security, as the Swedish authorities have done.

On the other hand, if the short straw fell on Aleschenko, the question remains what we do with Russian bankers and politicians and whether they are carefully checked for links with the Kremlin.

Recently, in a hearing in the National Assembly, the director of the investigative site “Bellingcat” Hristo Grozev stressed that among the Russian property owners and investors in Bulgaria it is very likely that there will be “hundreds and thousands” of Russian agents.

Loans for “golden passports”, pressure from Europe and “Magnitsky”

In 2016, Bivol published a BNB report on First Investment Bank, which describes the so-called First Investment Bank. citizenship credits. It becomes clear that without actually depositing money in Bulgaria, foreigners can take a loan from FIB, present it as an investment and after five years repay the loan, thus their citizenship costs only the interest. This worked back in 2011, when the report was prepared before.

As of 31.12.2011 for 36 foreign individuals (at the previous inspection they were for 6 foreign individuals) the Bank has issued to the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria certificates that these citizens have the amount of EUR 511 292 thousand in a personal deposit account with FIB. The balance of these deposits according to the inspection is maintained on the basis of loans granted by the bank to these persons. These loans have the same contractual parameters: amount EUR 511 292, 4% interest for a period of 5 years, with collateral cash deposit equal to the loan amount and in the same currency – says the report, which clarifies in the footnote: These loans are a standard product of the bank for loans to foreign customers. They are granted to foreign citizens to invest in Bulgarian government securities in order to apply for Bulgarian citizenship. According to information from the bank, it reported to SANS for each of these foreigners and received a response that they do not participate in criminal schemes.

At the signal of Bivol, KPKONPI and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe into these loans, which was terminated in 2019. Christopher from the SP did not see in the scheme evidence of a crime.

But that’s not what the European Commission thinks. Following an investigation by the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, a partnership between OCCRP and Transparency International. entitled “Bulgaria’s Golden Visas: Lost Profits and Bank Loophole”, the report “European Gateway: Inside the Murky World of Golden Visas” was prepared, which was presented to the European institutions in 2018.

In June 2021, the United States sanctioned Delyan Peevski under the global Magnitsky Act for significant corruption. A citizenship settlement scheme was cited as a concrete example, in which his “lieutenant” Ilko Jeliazkov , also sanctioned, was involved.

In an attempt to clear Peevski’s name, the MRF submitted a bill banning golden passports and a signal to the prosecutor’s office about abuses in issuing investment certificates. According to the movement, “in one bank the same money was spun” to prove investments by foreigners with dubious backgrounds, probably related to foreign services.

So far, only First Investment Bank has evidence that it is involved in the citizenship scheme. Her faithful client is MP Delyan Peevski, it became clear from the Pandora Files.

In the continuation of the scandal, Justice Minister Nadezhda Yordanova told the media that there was an intermediary close to the MRF in the “golden passports” scheme, after which the MRF denied and asked the prosecution to question her.

An investigation by the BRRD found that lawyers from the office of Atty. Ivan Todorov, owner of Ciela, who is considered close to Delyan Peevski. He himself denies his closeness to Peevski and sees nothing wrong with the services of an intermediary for “golden passports”.

***

За да научавате преди всички за нови разследвания, инсталирайте си нашето мобилно приложение:

Щом сте стигнали дотук, вероятно вече си задавате въпроса как се финансира този журналистически проект.

Отговорът е: Финансира се от журналистическо чекмедже, в което читателите оставят по нещо, ако им е харесало съдържанието.

Чекирайте се и Вие!

При възможност, станете наш редовен спомоществовател с опцията Чекирай Редовно. Това ни помага да предвиждаме бъдещи разходи и да планираме дейността си за месеци напред.