The notebook of the parliamentary assistant Mollov: Part 1: Residencies, services, Freemasons and Russian “Krysha”

On the day of the dissolution of the 44th National Assembly the list of parliamentary assistants will go to the archives. But at least one of them deserves to go down in history, according to the notes kept by him in a personal notebook that the BRRD reviewed. From them can be drawn reasonable conclusions about trading in sensitive information, trading influence, illegal financial schemes, bribes for officials and other acts described in the Criminal Code. Several separate storylines can be derived from the information in the notebook, each requiring detailed development. That’s why we decided to publish it in parts, starting with the current “spy plot”.

Yordan Mollov is a financier and presents himself as an adviser to the Budget and Finance Committee of the National Assembly. In fact, he is not on the list of assistants to this committee, but was a parliamentary assistant to BSP MP Valentin Lambev. He was because his name was removed from the register.

The young financier has an impressive CV – from a master of statistics at the Academy of Economics in Svishtov through the University of New York in Prague to a doctorate at ULSIT, as well as extensive professional experience on Wall Street. In the spring of 2019, the press service of the otherwise serious New Bulgarian University published a link to the frivolous site Revelations.com. It reports with a dramatic tone that another Bulgarian “wolf from Wall Street” is drawing a line on his career in finance and investing and will devote himself to teaching.

As a parliamentary assistant, Mollov has a wide range of interests beyond finance and statistics. On Facebook, he was appointed at meetings of the Committee on Internal Affairs and Security in November 2019 and the Committee on the Control of Services. We have not been able to find data on its activities to the Budget and Finance Committee. On the other hand, someone found in the National Assembly a forgotten old notebook of Mollov and shared its content with our editorial office on an anonymous channel.

Residents – on Viber in Moscow?

On Wednesday, September 11, 2019, Yordan Mollov recorded in his notebook to call Antov/Tsvetkov via Viber in Moscow. On the same day, he noted information from the “Grandfather” about the “Residencies” in Moscow and Kazakhstan. The names of specific employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, their telephone numbers and the name of the person Anton Tsvetkov are indicated.

All attempts to contact Yordan Mollov by phone, through his social media profile and on the email specified in his business card were unsuccessful. We could not clarify who Anton Tsvetkov is, as there are no other indications in the notebook who he could be. A famous public figure in Russia with such a name with a Bulgarian sound is the close to the Kremlin chairman of the “Strong Russia” movement.

Mollov’s access to the National Assembly, his notes on “residencies” and talks with Moscow on Viber themselves raise questions. Moreover, a year later, on October 12, 2019, Russia declared persona non grata two employees of the Bulgarian Embassy. This was a retaliatory gesture of the Malinov spy scandal and the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Bulgaria. The names of the Bulgarian diplomats were not disclosed, but the BRRD learned that one of them was the “resident” that Mollov had recorded a year earlier in the notebook. For security reasons, we hid the names of the employees from the “residence”, but if the authorities are interested, they can obtain them and examine the information from the notebook without deletions.

Approached by our reporter Valentin Lambev explained that “by memory” Yordan Mollov was released in early 2020. He did not want to answer the question of who recommended Mollov to him. In response to written questions, he reported that he had no information about Mollov’s activities, his contacts with services, Russians, Freemasons and the companies listed in the notebook.

Not exactly a spy, but there is a desire

Does this mean that Mollov collected and transmitted to Moscow sensitive information about our residencies, using his access to the National Assembly and contacts at the top of power? Doubts are fueled by information about the warm ties of Mollov’s employer Valentin Lambev with accusations of espionage Nikolay Malinov and the Russophile lobby. Lambev is a member of the National Council of ND “Russophiles”. In addition, Mollov has contact with Russophile circles and through his academic engagement at ULSIT. A month after the notes for the “residency” he defended his dissertation under the guidance of prof. Dames. The defense was also attended by Valery Todorov, a prominent journalist and member of the Management Board of the Russia – Bulgaria Forum. Stoyan Denchev told BRRD that Mollov is his PhD student, but he himself does not know Valentin Lambev and has no information about the existence of his graduate as a parliamentary adviser.

On the other hand, the very fact that similar notes appear in Mollov’s notebook in open text suggests a low level of professionalism. In other fragmentary notes of Mollov there are also spy plots. For example, a person named Emil Yankov makes a proposal to be embedded in a fund and to assist in countering terrorism and money laundering. Serious offer, which comes shortly after the tick “Getzata – 200 BGN. Gypsies” from 12. September 2019

In another note, Mollov has noted instructions on what CV should send to some “services”, how to present itself in a positive light with its professional qualification and what risks this brings. In the pages of the notebook there are also bookmarks for meetings such as “SANS – Spagetti Kitchen”, “Man of SANS”, etc.

Extremely interesting are also the notes about a meeting with a person who can be identified as Chavdar Hristozov – First Secretary for Economic Affairs at our Embassy in Moscow, who has been in this post for eight years and comes from the Ministry of Economy. Hristozov’s phone is present in Mollov’s notebook as well as that of his son the lecturer at the UNWE Yanko Hristozov.

It is not clear whether these notes are instructions to Mollov from another person on how to hold the meeting with a “person from the services” or whether they are his personal impressions and conclusions after such a meeting.

Approached for comment on the phone Chavdar Hristozov said that he does not know Mollov – “This is the first time I have heard such a person. You have a mistake.” His son Yanko Hristozov did not respond by phone and to our requests for comment on WhatsApp.

“Krysha” or the peculiarities of business with Russia

However, there was a meeting on Russia and it took place in Varna on 15.09.2019, and Mollov prepared for it. This is clear from notes on how to form a request to the local Masonic lodge “Odessos” to attend their ritual. According to the note on the next page, he is a Freemason with the rank of apprentice in the Harmony Lodge.

At the meeting in question, for which it is unclear whether he is related to Freemasonry, Mollov is “dedicated” how to do business in Russia, with whom and how to structure financially. His notes occupy four pages and mention names such as the former head of the Russian Duma. Vladimir Platonov, our former ambassador to Moscow Boyko Kotsev, the head of the FSC Karina Karaivanova, Mitrev – probably Kalin Mitrev from the EBRD, known as agent “Simeonov”, an unidentified person named Snezhana and the already mentioned Yanko Hristozov lecturer from the UNWE and son of our first Secretary of Economics at our Embassy in Moscow.

The interpretation of the four pages of information separated by points is not obvious, but it can be assumed that this is about structuring business projects related to Russia. In a dollarized and centralized Russian economy, the most important thing is to have a “Krysha”, which in Russian means roof, but is used in the sense of political “umbrella” or political, as well as bandit “protection”. In these projects, the “first secretary” deals with finance, and passes through a local law firm in Russia, which contacts “Krыsha”.

We also learn that an important contact in Russia is Vladimir Platonov – former head of the Russian Duma, that money should go through two Russian banks and one international, but also everything moves through Dubai – call Dubai, pay Dubai, and that the contact with the banks is our former ambassador in Moscow Boyko Kotsev. Again, notes appear for contacts with the services and also with the “official person in the RU”.

In this structure, an institutional element also appears – a state quota of 13% for the Ministry of Finance. We are also talking about Bulgarian-Russian trade, economic and scientific-technical cooperation, terms as if they had emerged from an archive document of Comecon. It is noted that Menda, the chairwoman of the Budget Committee, where Mollov is an adviser, did not go to Russia. There is also a reference to old economic disputes between Bulgaria and Russia – if we buy arms licenses, the price of gas will be lower.

But for all this, the presence of “Krysha” and Call Dubai – Pay Dubai refer to some dark financial backstage dealings rather than to a light interstate business.

By the way, the background and qualification of Yordan Mollov are particularly suitable for such parallel business structures with the participation of services, Masons, former ambassadors and politicians. In addition to advising the Finance Committee, building an academic career and touring around the services, he is involved in the creation of offshore structures and controls a number of dubious companies at home and abroad, which will be discussed in the next story.

The terms “resident” and “residency” in the intelligence community are usually used to refer to heads of intelligence missions abroad, who are often under diplomatic cover. Along with the current spy scandal, Prosecutor General Geshev expanded the semantic field of the word to a local head of a spy group.

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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.

От създаването си BIRD се финансираше от подаяния в нашето журналистическо чекмедже.
Но на чекмеджето му мина времето. Даже прокуратурата затвори онова Чекмедже, знаете кое…
Нашето финансиране влиза в крак с епохата. Фондонабиращата ни кампания вече се казва

#МятайСБЪРД

Дарявай за BIRD и мятай павета в блатото с корумпирани политици и други тарикати.
Те тайно премятат пари от твоя джоб в своя. Те размятат безнаказано лукса си пред очите на всички. Няма кой да ги накаже ако се надяваш на държавата.
Мятай, за да ги накажеш ти. Да дариш за разследващите журналисти е гаранция, че гадостите, с които силните на деня те замерят, ще им се върнат.
Можеш да метнеш веднъж, за да ти олекне!
Но по-добре е да мяташ редовно всеки месец и да се чувстваш трайно удовлетворен.
А най-добре е да доведеш приятели и да мятаме редовно заедно в екип. С мощен залп!
*За кръстник на новата ни фондонабираща кампания избрахме другарката Ваня. Благодарим й за вдъхновението!