Menko Menkov – a lawyer in the brilliance of fame

Around the world, and especially in the old democracies, it has become clear that a diploma from a reputable university is a very important condition for success in professional development. In our country, however, it is obviously unnecessary to be slaves to such stereotypes. Practice proves it. The Prosecutor General of the Republic is a graduate of the Higher Institute for Officer Training and Research of the Ministry of Interior. He was accepted to study as a lieutenant of the People’s Militia. Many jurisprudential luminaries believe that the legal capacity of Geshev and others like him is the result only of gaps in the legislation in force at that time. Today, the graduates of the Ministry of Interior the Academy are “learning” to obtain a qualification of “lawyer” and legal capacity.

Very similar is the story of the top lawyer of the political class Menko Menkov. He also cannot boast a diploma from a prestigious university, because the “Magnaur School” is definitely not a forge for legal luminaries. However, his story is a “Bulgarian Dream” come true. He starts from a small village in the Rousse region, passes through the police school in Pazardzhik, like many others at the top of the state, he graduated from the Higher Institute of the Ministry of Interior “G. Dimitrov” is still a leading lawyer, with defense as Boyko Borisov and Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

Menkov clearly believes that modesty is for those who have nothing else, because he determines himself.

Menko Menkov & Partners Law Firm as one of the most prosperous law firms in the country. On the company’s website we read that the founder of the firm Menko Menkov is one of the most established names in the legal circles of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Indeed, if the measure of the prosperity of “Menko Menkov & Partners” is the absorption of public funds, then the law firm is among the most successful. We find data for half a million absorbed. As early as March 2021, bird.bg reported that Menkov’s office was among theSelected‘ by the head of the Operational Programme regions in growth. Then the program was managed by Denitsa Nikolova. A check in UMIS shows that it has awarded contracts for over BGN 5 million for legal representation to various law firms. This happens without public procurement, as the law allows it. Probably, with the same success, the legal representation could be implemented by the Legal Department of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, because the Ministry is a party to the cases. But the law “unties” Nikolova’s hands and she engages law firms for services that cost the budget over
4 600 000
BGN.

A curious detail is that PP “Continuing the Change”
noticed
this vicious practice only during the last election campaign and pointed out that OPRD has assigned legal representation to the office of Borisov’s personal lawyer – Menkov. Of course, Kiril Petkov and Assen Vassilev could have investigated the expediency of the assigned legal representation while they were still ruling the country, but they remembered the case only after the fall of their government.

Menkov and his colleagues are far from being able to boast of much success in the legal representation of the SFA, for example. There is ample evidence in the records of how they failed to defend the fund’s actions before the court in dismissal cases. However, this obviously does not bother the leadership of OPRD. The assignment of generous paid legal representation during Borisov’s rule by Denitsa Nikolova, a cadre and MP from GERB, to the office of Menkov, to whom Boyko Borisov is protected, can also be seen as an indicator of political corruption. Such a situation raises many doubts about ties between the law firm and GERB. Maybe the knit 491 938.46 lv. from OPRD to “Menko Menkov & Partners” is involved in the case that the founder of the law firm is pursuing against two journalists from bird.bg. Maybe he’s returning a favor to Borisov?

Partner of Borisov’s lawyer is on the board of Kintex

Probably, the proximity to GERB leads to other bonuses. After the “warming” of relations between GERB and Radev partner of the prosperous, at least under the management of GERB, lawyer fell into the board of Kintex. How Engaged in Agriculture
Milen Dimitrov Nikolov
falls on the board of Kintex is a real mystery.

Nikolov is obviously married or cohabiting with another partner of Menkov –
Ani Petrova Nikolova
. Why the government formed by Radev appointed people related to GERB and MRF to military enterprises is a question that should be analyzed in another type of publication, but the facts are clear – a partner of Borisov’s lawyer is on the board of Kintex.

Along with Ani Nikolova, Menkov turns out to be a “patyr”. He is partner with her in “ARIBAL

” Ltd., participating in DZZD “MB Consult” – construction supervision for 2.3 million of the construction of the road Mezdra – Botevgrad, built for BGN 257 million by DZZD “MB LOT 2-2019” with the unknown: “European Roads” AD, “Water Construction-Blagoevgrad” AD, “Vahostav-SK”.

Through another partner Stefan Daskalov, Menkov is also connected to Borino – a bastion of MRF and birthplace of Mustafa Karadayi. The facts show that Daskalov is not accidental. Through the company Energo Remont Stroy

it successfully absorbs

public funds. Gets

and funding under the SFA’s RDP. Stefan Daskalov has updated her hunting lodge

with EU funds under the guise of a guest house

of a daughter’s

company

his. Practice shows that during the management of GERB rarely are funded random projects with European funds. Obviously, Menkov and his partners are interested in protecting the interests of GERB and Borisov, because they are the ones who absorb public funds of the Bulgarian and European taxpayers!

We can only suspect what is the real reason for the statement of claim of lawyer Menkov against two of the authors of the bird.bg, but a formal reason is Article, which illuminates him, as the owner of an offshore company. The Pandora files revealed that in 2015 he became the owner of the offshore Sageweld Ltd., registered in the Seychelles. This offshore company has no activity in Bulgaria, a check in the Commercial Register showed. From the register of beneficial owners maintained by the operator of offshore companies Alpha consulting ltd It becomes clear that in the company Sageweld Ltd Menko Menkov is a beneficial owner.

The same document shows that Molly Rita Roselie is the offshore nominal owner of the company, of which Menkov was the beneficiary in 2015. Another document testifies that the documents of Sageweld Ltd are stored at the address of Menkov’s office (one of the most prosperous offices).

Thanks to Pandora papers, we know that on December 18, 2013, Elena Konovalova from
Alpha consulting ltd
sends the list of new companies, which also includes the company Sageweld Ltd. It is noteworthy that the website of Alfa Consulting supports menus in only two languages – English and Russian. This gives a clear idea of who the company is targeting.

In the data leak, an invoice is available, which also pays the cost of certificates – 2 in number, a power of attorney and an apostille totaling $ 295.00. A term power of attorney was issued in favor of Menko Menkov in 2016. The invoice is issued with the publisher “Alpha Consulting” and is for the company.Sava Management”,

a well-known Bulgarian intermediary company for registration of offshore companies.

All of the above gives us reason to assume that the company was registered shortly before the end of 2013 and its likely nominal owner was Molly Rita Roselie. Subsequently, in the summer of 2015, the company was acquired by Menkov.

The straw offshore ladies

Molly Rita Roselli, who, as we have already noted, we have every reason to believe is a nominal offshore owner of Sageweld Ltd, authorizes Menkov to act before the Czech
Fio
Bank. Our team reaches a second power of attorney – from July 2017. In practice, with this document Menkov is authorized by the offshore owner to operate with the company as he sees fit.

The document from the register of beneficial owners of “Alfa Consulting” Ltd is key because it illuminates Molly Rita Roselli
(
Molly Rita Roselie) as an offshore owner. This fact appears significant beyond the case of the titled lawyer. In his statement of claim to the court, Menko Menkov does not dispute this fact – that Molly Rita Roselli has the status of an offshore owner of Sageweld Ltd as of August 6, 2015, and probably at a later stage.

There is evidence that Molly Rita Roselli is an offshore owner during previous data leaks. Her name and date of birth expire in
Panama papers
.
Molly Rita Roselli
is illuminated as being associated with two naturally offshore companies –
Royalsys engineering ltd
and
Willcom Corp
. More interesting is the second offshore company, Willcom Corp. Molly Rita Roselli is linked to the son of the Russian oligarch. Igor Provkin. The latter becomes notorious as an example of the disproportionate penalties that are Impose of the “elected” in Putin’s Russia. He was given a suspended sentence for rape.

From the documents it can be concluded that the company Willcom Corp was originally discovered in the name of Molly Rita Roselli by a company “offshore operator”. Subsequently, Willcom Corp was acquired by Igor Provkin. After October 19, 2011, Molly Rita Roselli from beneficial owner became a Shareholder, which is commonly referred to as nominal offshore owners who hold shares for third parties. Blog post by Martin Sheil, a retired U.S. Revenue Administration agent specializing in
criminal investigations
, connects Igor’s father – Yuri
Provkin
is with Oleg Viktorovich
Boyko
– international gambling boss. Sheil hints at financial crimes. Together Yuri and Igor Provkin are related to the offshore company
Luntime Limited
.

Thus, through Molly Rita Roselli, Menko Menkov finds himself related to a convicted rapist, a Russian oligarch. On reference reference to to the the The Open Database Of The Corporate World There were 199 results for Molly Rita Roselli. The companies listed in the register are based in 5 different countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic. In the former socialist republic, Molly Rita Roselli is associated with 6 companies. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it authorized Menkov to act before the Czech Fio Banka on behalf of Sageweld Ltd. It is very likely that the Czech Republic will be a priority destination for financial transactions of offshore companies.

What is missing in the Open Corporate register are the companies in Bulgaria, where Molly Rita Roselli is listed as the ultimate owner. According to the Commercial Register, in Bulgaria the lady is a major entrepreneur as the ultimate owner of 32 Companies. In 28 companies, Molly Rita Roselli has partnered with Gina Sandra Esparon. The latter is with
49
results in the TR, in the
British register
There are 34 results. In
The Open Corporate Registry
has 430 results available in 5 countries.

Publication on bird.bg she illuminates Gina Sandra Esparon as the offshore owner of several companies in which she is declared as the ultimate one. The Pandora papers clearly reveals that the ultimate ownership is different. It is unlikely and devoid of life logic that Gina Sandra Esparon is offshore and Molly Rita Roselli is the beneficial owner. Apparently, both ladies are just a screen, straw people covering up someone’s real property.

The majority of the Bulgarian companies in which Molly Rita Roselli, connected to Menko Menkov, is listed as the ultimate owner, are managed by Zhan Stefanov Tabakov

, son-in-law of the mythical

former Lukoil

director

. in Bulgaria Valentin Zlatev. In Pandora papers Tabakov was present as the beneficial owner of the offshore company Esterling Investment Ltd, registered in Seychelles by Alpha Consulting. The offshore company is the sole owner of “
Alfacommerce
Group” with UIC 201189381, which had problems to repay its debts and service a bank loan. We understand from the Commercial Register that FIB joins as a creditor the bankruptcy claim of Alfacommerce Group under credit line agreement No 300-1461 / 15.09.2009. The company was deleted on 21.09.2021.

According to the Bulgarian Commercial Register, Zhan Tabakov was only a manager. He has not been declared as the actual owner of Alfacommerce Group. Pandora papers, however, shed light on the subject. The company owes More than 500 thousand. Lv. of the NRA. The offshore company is also the owner of “Hey property“. Esterling Investment Ltd and Molly Rita Roselli have been declared as beneficial owners for this company. No actual owner of another foreign company has been declared Larson Industrial Group Limited, for which there is no information in the Pandora Files. She is the owner of “
Jayteproperty
.” Of the latter company Zhan Tabakov was the sole owner until 18.06.2014, and to date he is only a manager. The same Hong Kong company is also the owner of “
Angie Investment”.
“. Esterling Investment Ltd was again declared as beneficial owner and Zhan Tabakov was renamed as manager and contact person.

In view of the above-described situation, the offshore owner Molly Rita Roselli is associated with evidence of numerous administrative violations, and possibly with crimes against the treasury of the Republic of Bulgaria. Media publications link her indirectly and to a network of sexual exploitation of children and money laundering in Seychelles. The main actor in the scheme Gaetanne Sharon Antat

is linked to Molly Rita Roselli through an exchange of ownership in several firms, one of which is Grostech

investment LTD, London, UK.

Gina Sandra Esparon, who “partnered” with Molly Rita Roselli as an offshore owner in many companies in Bulgaria, is
linked to
the infamous American lobbyist
Nick Muzin
, serving the Democratic Party of Albania. From an investigation of the Russian trace in this affair, we learn that Gina Sandra Esparon was born with the surname Kilindo and is known as an offshore owner just like Sandra Gina Esparon, Sandra Gina Kilindo and simply Gina Kilindo.

To make the picture even more complete, it should be noted that Molly Rita Roselli is present in several court rulings in commercial cases. Two of the rulings are of the Kyustendil District Court in private commercial case 134/2016 and commercial case 51/2017.
Oil BG
“. By decision No 38 of 13 October 2016, the Kyustendil District Court has declared the insolvency of Oil BG Ltd. and has opened insolvency proceedings. Within the statutory period, “
Shipping Navigation Ltd
” – a Seychelles company represented by Molly Rita Roselli has made a claim against the debtor company. The obligation was generated as a result of a cession. Cedant is the First Investment Bank, which transfers its claims to Shipping Navigation Ltd. Judge
Krasimir Bambov
accepts the thesis of the bankruptcy trustee Ana
Milenkova
, which refuses to accept the claim claimed by FIB and Shipping Navigation Ltd. as a liquid and payable receivable from the debtor company Oil BG. According to the minutes of the proceedings, it is claimed that the claim arises from a management commission charged under Bank Loan Agreement No 000CL-L-000020/26. 01. 2009 amended and supplemented by Annexes of 27. 07 2011, 21. 09. 2012, 13. 06. 2013 and 29. 12. 2015 concluded with a company “DANS Energy“. The receivables of the assignor to “DANS Energy” Ltd. are secured by a contract for surety with counterparty “Oil BG” from 19. 01. 2012 As a whole, the offshore claims a claim of about BGN 80,000. The Court accepts that the Surety Agreement, concluded between First Investment Bank AD and Oil BG Ltd., has as its subject obligations incurred by DANS Energy Ltd., from the Bank Credit Agreement and annexes thereto, relevant to the date of its conclusion – 19. 01. 2012 It could not be concluded that “Oil BG” Ltd. has accepted to guarantee for non-arisen obligations at the date of conclusion of the contract of suretyship.

The second proceedings are based on a claim by Shipping Navigation Ltd. against Codia Group

” . The claimant, despite the opportunity given to him, does not provide evidence that his statement of claim was filed in time and the court closes the case. This proceedings are again related to the bankruptcy of “Oil BG”. After all, after the ruling of the Sofia Court of Appeal, “Shipping Navigation” in 2021. There are accepted receivables over 79 000 from the bankruptcy estate – over BGN 10 800 000. Of these, the offshore receives less than 33,000.

“Shipping Navigation” also appeared in Commercial Case 87/2013 of the Pazardzhik District Court. The proceedings

are the bankruptcy of Tandem

–SN. “Shipping Navigation Ltd” claims BGN 500.00. under a cession contract dated 01.02.2018 and here the cedant is represented by Miss Molly Rita Roselli. In fact, its capacity as an “active participant” in the distribution of the bankruptcy estate, Shipping Navigation falls even in the Guide with the practice of the SCC. The reason for the comment is a negative declaratory claim of the offshore company in the course of the insolvency of Vratsa”Dance energy“. The company is connected to Oil BG and is again indebted to FIB. The various instances assume that there is no taking of “Almi art” amounting to BGN 9 271 500, resulting from a penalty under the Framework Agreement for Purchase and Sale of Electricity from 19.02.2016. Negative declaratory claims are among FIB’s favorite legal methods. They try to apply them, although not successfully, in the case of APIA. Bivol was the first to He told

me about the vicious scheme.

According to the data from the Pandora Files, in January 2019, Augustine Antonov Ganchev was registered as the ultimate owner of Shipping Navigation Ltd.

. In addition to being a deregistered lawyer from the Vratsa Bar Association of over 70 years, he is a manager in at least
12
companies, including
an airport
Sofia. A few years earlier, in November 2014, the 50-year-old taxi driver from the capital’s Hristo Botev district was registered as the ultimate owner of Shipping Navigation Ltd. Lazar Petrov Kolev. The man is a civic activist from the Roma community, managing the Association “Civil Initiative for the Development of Hristo Botev-Sofia”. The actions of Shipping Navigation Ltd., reflected in the court papers, give no indication that they serve the interests of either of the two gentlemen. The hypothesis that our team suspects is that in order to reduce its liabilities, since the uncollectable receivable is a liability for the bank, FIB, which at that time practically did not pass the ECB’s stress tests, assigned them to companies with offshore owners. Why the owners of FIB do not use
offshore
companies, and that of Augustine Ganchev is a mystery to us.

And business with a sikaji

And outside of offshore ownership, through simple real estate transactions, Menkov enters into business relations with “remarkable” examples of socially engaged individuals. A check in the Property Register testifies that as an individual Menkov has credited the already deleted “Stroiko Invest. Subsequently, he also imposed foreclosures on the same legal entity.

“Stroiko Invest” in recent years, before stopping operations, is majority-owned by Mihail Georgiev Gotsov. In September 2015, the Burgas District Prosecutor’s Office requested the termination of the company because Gotsov died on August 15, 2013 and no one was appointed in his place as manager. In the last years of the company’s operation, Getsov has partnered only with Evgeni Hristov Nenov, which holds 5% of Stroiko Invest. Nenov is currently the owner of the most successful company, a taxi carrier, which serves Sunny Beach and St. Constantine and Helena. Vlas. He entered into a partnership with Gotsov in early 2012. For one reason or another, Gotsov’s original partners in the company left him. These are
Mihail Hristov Tomov
and
Nikolay Simeonov Nikolov
. In fact, Mihail Georgiev Gotsov was probably more than an “exciting” partner. His name appeared in the 2005-2006 investigation against the brothers Krasimir and Nikolay Marinovi – the Margins. The case in question will be remembered as one of the great failures in the courtroom of Nikolay Kokinov and the prosecution in general under Boris Velchev.

On November 14, 2006, the General Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime (GDBOP) boasted that after a two-day specialized operation, five rifles were seized from the house of a Sofia citizen, two with opticals, a submachine gun with a silencer, two presses of plastic explosive C-4, 50 fuzes, 20 press blasts, a schmeiser, a machine gun and two pistols. The owner of the house is Mihail Georgiev Gotsov. According to the data of “Banker“He was convicted twice of theft – in 1982 and 1988. After the changes, Gotsov was a trusted man of Fatik and for five years was the head of his personal security. According to rumors, “Gotsov was part of the penal brigade of another underground legend – Branimir Grigorov-Branko, best man of Mladen Mihalev-Maggio, and a personal executor of wet orders of one of the co-founders of SIC – Stoil Slavov-Teleto.”

The official entry of Mihail Gotsov into the construction business was on August 20, 2004, when the Burgas District Court re-registered “Aheloy 2003” EOOD, owned at that time by Mihail Hristov Tomov and entered as partners Nikolay Simeonov Nikolov, Mihail Georgiev Gotsov and Emilia Mihaylova Tomova. The company was renamed “Stroiko Invest” Ltd. The publication claims that Gotsov develops three hotel complexes in the western part of Sunny Beach – Orpheus – I, Orpheus – II and Orpheus – III. It is probably in these projects that Menkov has invested his funds or bought someone else’s receivable worth 20,000 euros. Whoever concluded the deal, apparently “Stroiko Invest” Ltd. turned out to be an incorrect builder and it came to the imposition of foreclosures. They are after a private civil case won in 2011 by Menkov before the 61st panel of the Special Surveillance Devices. This gives rise to the hypothesis that Menkov has filed a private complaint under the Civil Procedure Code in connection with some previous proceedings, unfortunately these court arrays have not been digitized and our team has no access to them. According to the court records of the insolvency proceedings, at that time Stroiko Invest Ltd. became insolvent and subsequently launched bankruptcy proceedings. It does not appear that the creditor Menkov has been able to collect his receivables.

The question remains, however, why a criminal lawyer voluntarily enters into financial relations with a citizen like Mihail Georgiev Gotsov, who is considered by the authorities to be too close to the mafia group SIC.

Finally, we offer readers an excerpt from the Masonic treatise (construction) entitled “The Road to Light” by the secretary of the Zahari Stoyanov lodge, brother Menko Menkov, written in the summer of 2021.

“The most miserable occupation of human nature is to work hard to make people think bad things of each other. It is the duty of the Mason to seek to induce a brother to have a better opinion of his fellows, to appease rather than aggravate difficulties, to bring together the divided or alienated, to prevent friends from becoming enemies, and to persuade enemies to become friends. To be able to do this, a Mason must be able to control his passions, not be reckless and hasty, not be offended or angry easily, for anger is his avowed enemy. Anger is neither courageous nor resourceful. He makes friendships and fraternities unbearable. It multiplies the evils of drunkenness and intoxication, and compels frivolity into madness. It turns friendship into hatred and causes a man to lose control of himself, his reason, and his reasoning in a raging argument. It transforms discipline into boredom and hatred of the freethinker.”

***

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