{"id":49168,"date":"2024-09-06T15:59:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T13:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/?p=49168"},"modified":"2025-03-01T20:39:19","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T19:39:19","slug":"golden-parking-vidin-taki-minstroy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bird.bg\/en\/golden-parking-vidin-taki-minstroy\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Golden Parking” near Vidin turned out to be related to Valkanov’s “Minstroy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkey and Greece want to bypass Bulgaria for the transport of goods. The reason – chaos at the border and racketeering over the drivers of the so-called buffer parking lots. The Bulgarian government woke up and sent DANS and NRA to check the parking lots. It has long been known that this business is controlled by crime bosses nicknamed Taki and Ami, not without political protection. A joint investigation by BIRD and the IRL Investigative Reporting Laboratory – Skopje<\/a> reveals that the ownership of the parking lot in Vidin leads to the “Ministry of Construction Holding” of oligarch Nikolay Valkanov. <\/b><\/p>\n

Gorancho Cvetkovski<\/b> – the current owner of the infamous parking lot at Danube Bridge 2, is a driver in<\/span> <\/span>Minstroy Holding<\/span><\/a> in North Macedonia. The previous<\/span>owners of the parking lot are associated with <\/span>Razmig Chakaryan – Ami<\/b>, a confidant of the drug lord <\/span>Christoforos Amanatidis – Taki<\/b>. <\/span>This fact is important because it documents the connection between current figures of the Bulgarian underground and the “pioneers” of the Bulgarian mafia, who are believed to have retained serious political contacts and influence. <\/span> If Tsvetkovski is not someone’s dummy, then he is quite wealthy. The driver from Probistip has invested BGN 500,000 to buy the company that has acquired the land for the parking lot near the border in Vidin. After that, he invested more money in asphalting, facilities and employees to develop a serious business there. <\/p>\n

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The driver from Probistip, Gorancho Cvetkovski, invested BGN 500,000 to buy the company with the parking lot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Ministry of Construction explained that they did not know what their enterprising employee was doing in his free time, but after learning from journalists, they immediately fired him. It remains unclear where an ordinary driver got the money to acquire, build and manage the parking lot, which is now being inspected by the State Agency for National Security and the National Revenue Agency. <\/p>\n

Taki-Maki and Multi<\/h2>\n

Christoforos Amanatidis – Taki gained <\/span>worldwide fame<\/span><\/a> as an associate of the FBI wanted crypto queen<\/span> Ruzha Ignatova<\/b>. <\/span>An investigation<\/span><\/a> by the BBC and BIRD revealed the numerous business connections between the two, and a police report<\/a> published by BIRD claimed that Taki ordered the murder of Ruja on a yacht in the Ionian Sea.<\/span> https:\/\/bird.bg\/ruja-ignatova-taki\/<\/a><\/p>\n

In Bulgaria, Taki is considered an extremely influential crime boss. In the past, he was put on the wanted list by Interpol for drug trafficking and was hiding in the UAE. Subsequently, Amanatidis mysteriously disappeared as a defendant<\/a> in the case against the “Hammer gang” and was removed from the wanted list. It has come to the point of legal absurdity that it is written in a court decision that Taki has created an organized criminal group, but he is not accused of this. <\/span><\/p>\n

Taki’s relationship with Razmig Chakaryan – Ami, who is the former owner of the companies operating at the border, is well documented. After his name became famous in journalistic revelations, Chakaryan transferred control of the companies to dummies. But its connection with the parking lots, including the one in Vidin, is traceable through business partnerships. <\/span><\/p>\n

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On the first line: Razmig Chakaryan – Ami on the left and Christoforos Amanatidis – Taki on the right. Next to Taki is Krasimir Kamenov – Karo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The owner of Minstroy, Prof. Dr. Nikolay Valkanov, is an important figure in Iliya Pavlov’s Multigroup, qualified in <\/span>American diplomatic reports<\/span><\/a> as a “doyen of Bulgarian organized crime”. Pavlov’s vice president Nikolay Valkanov survived, acquired academic titles, his business grew, and his political connections and influence put him in the category of local oligarchs. <\/span><\/p>\n

Valkanov is known for his solid political contacts, especially with the MRF party. Years ago, his company paid the honorary chairman of the MRF, Ahmed Dogan, one million leva fee for dubious consultations on hydrogeology. The revelations about this fee caused a public scandal and parliamentary inspections. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Nikolay Valkanov on the left with Ahmed Dogan and Iliya Pavlov.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The MRF’s ties with Multigroup are not only through Valkanov. The current co-chairman of the MRF, Delyan Peevski, sanctioned by the United States under the Magnitsky Act, was in the close circle of Iliya Pavlov. <\/span>But unlike Peevski, the head of “Minstroy” can also boast of good relations with President Rumen Radev, with whom Peevski is on a knife edge. Two years ago, Valkanov was <\/span>secretly proposed<\/span><\/a>, and subsequently awarded the highest state award.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nikolay Valkanov, second from the left, with President Rumen Radev in the center of an award ceremony for state awards in 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prof. Valkanov is also very well received by the authorities in North Macedonia, where his holding holds <\/span>mining concessions<\/span><\/a>. \u0411\u044a\u043b\u0433\u0430\u0440\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0442\u0430 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u043f\u0430\u043d\u0438\u044f \u201c\u041c\u0438\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0439\u201d \u0435 \u0441\u043e\u0431\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u0438\u043a \u043d\u0430 \u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442\u043d\u0430\u0442\u0430 \u0444\u0438\u0440\u043c\u0430 \u201c <\/span>Bulmak 2016″ DOOEL, Probistip – concessionaire of <\/span>the Zletovo mine<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>the Toranitsa mine<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> Just a few days ago, Valkanov celebrated the Miners’ Day in our southwestern neighbor on August 28 in the company of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. Before that, in April, the two visited the mine in Zletovo.<\/p>\n

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Valkanov and Mitsoski celebrate the Miner’s Day. Source: Government press service of the Republic of Macedonia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Valkanov is also on good terms with former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. In June 2018, the company “Bul Building” was established in the city of Sofia. Strumica. The owners are Minstroy Holding AG and Alexander Piperevaliev, who is a cousin of Dragi Rashkovski, a close friend of Zaev, sued for fraud with the purchase of software. The company has a solution for the production and sale of cannabis, and the manager of the company is Gotse Mojsoski, who is also in Bulmak 2016. At a certain time, partners in this company were also Serbian businessmen with a controversial reputation Predrag Koluvia and Goran Krastev. They are also close to Zaev. <\/p>\n

Minstroy: We didn’t know what Gorancho was doing. We fired him! <\/h2>\n

IRL asked millionaire driver Gorancho Cvetkovski for comment, but he ended up out of the country. <\/span>BIRD tried to contact Nikolay Valkanov by phone for comment, but he did not personally answer the calls. <\/span>Subsequently, on his behalf, BIRD was contacted by his lawyer – Ivica Jevti\u0107. He said that Gorancho Cvetkovski is an ordinary driver and has been working in the mine in Probistip for 20 years. “With what money did he acquire this parking lot?” asked our reporter. “We don’t know what he did outside of his working hours,” Jevtic replied. “We have a thousand workers, we can’t all know what they are doing.” After that, the colleagues from IRL received a written response from Bulmak 2016, which confirmed the information that Tsvetkovski worked as a driver for the company. The letter claims that Bulmak 2016 was not aware of the business initiatives in Bulgaria of Gorancho Cvetkovski, and is not responsible for them. Moreover, the driver was fired today for violations of his contract with the company. The letter emphasizes that Tsvetkovski was not in leadership positions, but was an ordinary employee – a driver of trucks and cars. Thus, it remains a mystery where this ordinary driver Gorancho took BGN 500,000 to acquire the company in Bulgaria, with what funds he built a parking lot for 600 trucks and what is the reason for his influence among the local institutions, which issued express permits for the construction of the parking lot and assisted in filling it, despite the turmoil among the carriers. As an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Fund revealed, the trucks were directed to the parking lot of Gorancho by municipal officials and official road signs, for which the Ministry of Interior refused to take responsibility. https:\/\/youtu.be\/qcC0Hga23wI?si=YxLc6P3r6BdevL6f<\/a> <\/p>\n

“Golden Parking”, drug trafficking control and a “black spot” for Bulgaria<\/span><\/h2>\n

The buffer parking lot for heavy trucks in Vidin made a splash after complaints from transport companies that they were forced to use it for a hefty fee – 25 euros per day for foreign trucks and 8 euros for Bulgarian ones, while waiting in line to cross into Romania on Danube Bridge 2. Similar parking lots, managed by related companies, are located on our southern border Kapitan Andreevo and on Danube Bridge 1 near Ruse. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ivan Hristanov, control over these parking lots and other businesses along the border<\/a> – a “golden puddle” for disinfecting cars and a “golden laboratory” for controlling imported fruits and vegetables – is key to drug trafficking networks.<\/span><\/p>\n

A BIRD investigation revealed links with both Taki’s people and political figures gravitating around former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party.<\/span><\/p>\n

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