Help or bribe? What is behind the actions of Lachezar Ivanov, investigated by the prosecution?

The Enzolytics shares sold for 1.6 million dollars by GERB MP Assoc. Dr. Lachezar Ivanov were a bribe from Harry Zhabilov for influence peddling and assistance in the takeover of the Bulgarian company Immunotech ‘s business in favor of the Enzolytics company. This was told by Dimitar Savov, partner of Zhabilov, owner of Immunotech and shareholder in Enzolytics. Zhabilov denies this and claims that Ivanov “only helps”.

More than a month ago, “Free Europe” reported that Dr. Ivanov, more popularly known as “The Brain” and as the personal physician of Boyko Borissov, was a consultant for the American company Enzolytics, which is developing a drug in Bulgaria. The MP was paid in securities for the service. In Enzolytics actively participates the Bulgarian Hari Zhabilov. According to the publication of “Free Europe”, at the beginning of 2021. Ivanov, through an investment intermediary, sold part of his shares on the New York Stock Exchange and made a profit totaling more than 1.6 million dollars. It is the profit that becomes the object of interest for the services, but not the way Assoc. Ivanov acquired the securities. Two weeks later, the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office initiated pre-trial proceedings for money laundering against Ivanov.

Dimitar Slavov Savov’s allegations of bribery are from an interview he gave to BRRD. His name is not unknown. He is a popular businessman from the transition, known as one of the main suppliers of Neftohim Burgas before the privatization of the enterprise and its acquisition by Lukoil. Since 2011, Savov has been working with Zhabilov on an AIDS vaccine project.

Zhabilov and the AIDS vaccine

Harry Zhabilov has been popular in this country since the late 1990s for his efforts to develop a drug to treat HIV and several types of cancer. The product was tested before 1989 by his late father, Dr. Harry Zhabilov. According to some sources, the development was stolen by a medic who worked at the “Cancer Hospital” and whom Zhabilov Sr. developed as a State Security agent.

It is a publicly circulated fact that US-based Enzolytics INC. is engaged in the development of monoclonal antibody therapy for the treatment of infectious diseases. Enzolytics’ lead development is ITV-1 (Immunotherapeutic Vaccine-1), a suspension of inactivated pepsin fraction (IPF), which is claimed to be effective in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

The company’s shares are traded in the US on the so-called. an over-the-counter (OTC) market that is decentralised. There, participants transact directly, without a centralized exchange or broker. A reference in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Assoc. A curious detail is that on the same date, the same number of shares was received by Kamelia Georgieva Tsoklinova – 2 500 000. She also receives them in a consultancy capacity. The latter has been pointed to as Ivanov’s life companion. We sought comment, but he declined on the grounds that his contract with Enzolytics was confidential. However, Ivanov denied that he was married to Tsoklinova and referred us to his lawyer Nikolay Lazarov, who confirmed that the two shareholders had a child together. The lawyer also denied the two had ever lived together.

Tsoklinova has been linked to 7 companies in the registries. One of them – Independent Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Poliskan is a contractor under a public procurement worth BGN 14 400 000. A publication on a specialised fishing website makes a link between Ivanov and Tsoklinova and the production of electricity from hydropower plants.

On 25 May 2018, Assoc. Ivanov received another 20 000 000 shares of the same company. The report states that the shares are consulting fees.

The following chart, showing Enzolytics’ stock price over the past two years, shows that it is perfectly acceptable that Ivanov sold $1.6 million worth of stock at the beginning of the year:

The chart shows that the company’s stock has been trading at around $0.0005 for almost the entire year 2020, with the price starting to rise in the last quarter and making a huge jump at the beginning of the year around February, reaching a price of over $0.9 per share. This effectively represents a roughly 2,000-fold increase in the company’s price in a matter of months. If we take as a reference a price of $0.5 per share, as it stood in February, then Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lachezar Ivanov had at that stage shares worth $11,250,000. As of today, the price is $0.13 per share, or about $3 million.

And Volen Siderov with actions against consultations

When checking with the SEC about the shareholders of Enzolytics, the names of quite popular people from politics and business make an impression. There are Volen and Denitsa Siderov. They have 3,000,000 and 3,500,000 shares respectively, also given for advisory services.

There is another connection between Siderov and Zhabilov. The three of them, together with Kamelia Tsoklinova, the lawyer Ivan Elandjiev and Desislav Chukolov, a former MP from Ataka, founded in July 2021 the company International Medical Partners. It is probably also relevant to the vaccine under development.

We have sought comment from Sem. Siderov through the press centre of PP Ataka, but we never received it. We can only calculate that in February of this year, at a reference price again of $0.5 per share, the two had a total of $3,750,000 worth of shares. Zhabilov denies that Siderov sold his shares, despite the high price. Siderov had not done anything to trade with them. However, the 2020 year-end report does not include either sem. Siderov, nor Assoc. Ivanov. This means that at least the restrictions have been lifted, and it is possible that the shares have been traded.

A shareholder in Enzolytics is Valentin Dimitrov, who was the last director of Khimko while the company was in operation, and then participated in the attempts to privatise it. His wife and son are also there. The family has 120 million shares. And they are not in the report from the end of last year. In 2019 and 2020, the company’s shareholder list is like an alphabet book of Zhabilov’s close friends. He told bird.bg that the stock jump was the result of a merger between Enzolytics and BioClonetics of Charles Cotropia, who is now in the management of Enzolytics.

Dimitar Savov, who in 2020 is present with over 71 million acacia in Enzolytics, has a different version. He says the company was incorporated 10 years ago.

“It used to be an Eco-petroleum solution, there’s Wall Street described it all. Zhabilov is taking it 2017 to try to transfer our combined business there, but I did not give permission to merge the companies (Enzolytics and Immunotech) I am not speculating, and Zhabilov is just trying to sell stock. Since it’s not CEO Zhabilov, it’s Charles Cotropia and the stock has jumped.”

According to him, the merger with BioClonetics could not affect the price because this company was not listed.

Everything was cashed in with Peevski

Savov claims that he attracted Ivanov and Siderov as lobbyists, but Zhabilov became close to them

“and began an attempted takeover with the help of the person Volen Siderov. And he is cashing everything with Peevski and this is clear for small children”.

According to his partner, Zhabilov tried to trade the vaccine development twice, including what he could invent in the future.

“All of his patents, with notarized contracts were transferred to the Bulgarian-American Immunotech BG of which I have 51% as an individual and another 20% of the American Immunotech Laboratories INKAngelAlexiev”

The latter company holds the remaining 49% in the Bulgarian-American company. Reference to the Trade Register shows that Harry Zhabilov is present in Immunotech Laboratories as a representative of the US Immunotech Laboratories INK. On the company’s website we find that in 2016, Immunotech Laboratories BG conducted clinical tests on patients in Bulgaria. Toxicity tests have also been conducted. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations require additional ones before authorizing the initiation of subsequent clinical trials.

On the other hand, representatives of Enzolytics visited Sofia in early 2021 and met with the director of the Executive Agency for Medicines (EMA) to discuss the upcoming clinical trials. The company is counting on the fact that the IAL is a member of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), so after the completion of clinical trials and validation in Bulgaria, their immunotherapy treatment will be recognized by the FDA. Although there is a two-company effort to develop one drug, Immunotech Laboratories BG claims on its website that it is not working in any form with Enzolytics. According to what was written, “Immunotech Laboratories BG holds the patent of the drug ITV-1 – ImmunH and conducted a successful clinical trial on 31 patients at the Hospital Hospital “Prof. Ivan Kirov EAD, Sofia.

In speaking with us, Zhabilov reported that they have conducted clinical research but not clinical trials. They were conducted at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, the same facility as Immunotech. “We are now in the phase of conducting a clinical trial,” Zhabilov says, adding that they had a contract with Pharmalex in connection with the registration of the product because the procedure was expected to be longer. He predicts that it will take them about 2 more years to bring the AIDS vaccine to market. On the role of Assoc. Dr. Ivanov, the scientist claims that he consults Enzolytics in Bulgaria because he has very good relations with the Executive Agency for Medicines, the Infectious Diseases Hospital and prof. Chervenyakova, the director of the hospital.

Savov, on the other hand, claims that the topic of the clinical trials of ITV-1 has been topical since the time of Oresharski. Even then Immunotech had problems with the IAL. “The problem is that there is huge corruption in the Medicines Agency. Except we don’t give kickbacks in any way. I send an offer to give a 500,000 bribe, I let it pass by my ears and I go on with my work.” Naturally, the refusal to give “money under the table” led to a deliberate delay in the procedure of research and eventual registration of the drug. The first high-level person Savov was able to reach regarding the vaccine was Oresharski. His wife, Elka, who is a physician, rated ITV-1 highly and recommended it.

“Oresharski, whatever we say, made a professional meeting. He invited everyone, including the director of the agency, gave instructions to do clinical trials as quickly as possible. We have a contract with 4 countries. Bulgaria will earn 1,600 euros per kit, and they want us for about 15-20 million kits.” Later, however, Oresharski’s cabinet falls and the situation changes. GERB comes to power and Immunotech switches to Assoc. Dr. Ivanov, as a GERB MP and Borissov’s personal doctor. “Lachezar was hired to lobby to become the cure. You can’t do anything here without having the protection of the state. We wanted to lobby so that we would not be obstructed. And the DPS was in the way a lot. For the clinical trial, it helped him and Volen Siderov that we annoyed Boyko Borissov and he neutralized the DPS and we took permission for a clinical trial.”

The actions in question unfolded in 2017 after a series of denials by the IAL Savov was given all of Ivanov’s vaccine technology through the “Investigator’s Brochure.” It was submitted to the IAL with the “top secret” seal and Ivanov initiated a meeting with the prime minister on the subject. “…Boyko Borissov asks them where the problem is. Boyko Pekov said “Savov did not give the technology to the agency”. Moskov and Lacho Ivanov are there. And Boyko Pekov says that this is the only problem. Then Lachezar Ivanov pulls out the “Researcher’s Brochure” and says that the technology has been taken to the IAL, and why they haven’t read it he can’t say. And Boyko Borissov says as soon as they have met all the conditions, he wants the permits to be issued tomorrow. And the Medicines Agency issues, but instead of writing “clinical trial”, it writes “medical study”

Zhabilov: There is no politics, this is medicine. Savov: There is bribery, lobbying and raiding

Unlike Savov, Zhabilov denies that the actions of Assoc. Dr. Ivanov are lobbying. “This is medicine, not politics. He cannot lobby, he can only help. I’m very remote, I don’t know the people, I don’t know the teams, and he knows the labs, he knows the people in the labs who will be doing the actual research.

Zhabilov was surprised that the situation was politicized “I don’t care if Assoc. Ivanov is in BSP, GERB or another party, we have hired him as a specialist, as a person who understands these things. Not that it is some kind of lobbying because he was a political figure in GERB. The question is to start the project and be able to register the product here in Bulgaria. And not only in Bulgaria, but also in the EU, because our publication will be with EMA”.

According to Savov, however, after the successful clinical trials and when it became clear that there was a lot of money in the project, Volen Siderov, Lachezar Ivanov and Hari Zhabilov took steps to take over his business.

“First there is influence peddling because at this moment Lacho Ivanov is the deputy chairman of the Health Committee. Because the 2.5 million shares that are for him, as a consultant, I got them for $2,500. That was their price. I have a contract, I have everything, less than 5000 lv. You may not declare them. But 20 million shares is a bribe, it’s a bribe. What kind of consultant can Lachezar Ivanov be? What does it advise? Is he the one lying about the contract being confidential, is he advising NASA? This is a public company, all contracts should be public, this is Wall Street, not a peppers and tomatoes exchange. To be a consultant, there does not need a general practitioner. Either it has to be a virologist, or an immunologist, or an infectious disease specialist. Pure and simple, Zhabilov gives him a bribe of 20,000 shares to take over the business together. Moreover, he does not declare them. He’s lying that the stock was worth 0.0001, but that stock price is an incorporation price. On the date of acquisition by Lachezar Ivanov, they were worth over $108,000.”

According to public quotes, throughout 2019 and until September 2020, the stock price of Enzolytics Inc. is below 0.001 dollars. This means that the value of Lachezar Ivanov’s 22,500,000 shares was as high as $22,500. Even such an amount is proper to declare.

Despite the existence of a commercial dispute, Zhabilov points out that Enzolytics has signed a contract with “Danson” “This Bulgarian company in Radomir, which will produce the preparation here in Bulgaria. We even ordered equipment, which is in the process of being delivered, for this plant in Radomir. So… he is our link here in Bulgaria.”

Danson’s portfolio states that it is a pharmaceutical-oriented holding company founded in Bulgaria in 2015. The company holds the major stake in Vetprom AD. In 2018 and 2019, Danson is the contractor for 66 public contracts with a total value of over one and a half million. For its part, Vetprom is a beneficiary of European funding under the Innovation and Competitiveness and Human Resources Development programmes. The two projects have a total value of about BGN 2.5 million. Among the names of the shareholders in the pharmaceutical company stands out the name of Stefan Georgiev Bozhinov, son of BSP deputy Georgi Bozhinov.

Stefan Bozhinov explained to bird.bg that he has not yet signed a contract with Enzolytics because the details are under negotiation. There was time, because the procedure for obtaining an AIDS license was at an early stage. Danson BG announced that they have the necessary equipment, which is very important, but the license is the responsibility of Enzolytics. Bozhilov confirmed that a GERB MP had made the connection between them and Zhabilov.

“It’s an unpleasant situation because this product may indeed have a future. But if you get “dirty” from the start, it may not work. But again I say, there are no guarantees that this product will work in the way it is claimed.”

How and whether this preparation will work will become clear when it is clarified who holds the rights to it. The story of Zhabilov and Savov obviously illustrates the vicious model in our country, where in order to experience medicine you need to know the prime minister or at least someone who knows him.

To date, the influence peddling that Savov accuses Assoc. Ivanov is just as difficult to prove as the money laundering alleged by the prosecution. But since the case with Lachezar Ivanov has reached the prosecutor’s office, it would be logical for the authorities to also check the assets of Siderov and Dimitrov. Have they been declared and have transactions been made on Ivanov’s model?

Dimitar Stoyanov, Angel Alexiev

After this article, GERB MP Lachezar Ivanov sued Dimitar Stoyanov and Angel Alexiev in the Sofia City Court for the article Help or bribe? What is hidden behind the actions of Lachezar Ivanov, investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office? Lachezar Ivanov’s claim is for BGN 10,000. for tort. The case number is 3857/2021 in the Sofia City Court. The judge in the case is Gergana Kirova.

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