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Bulgarian MP: Russians use Hungary for money laundering
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Deljan Dobrev, an MP of the Bulgarian centre-right GERB, said in an interview that Hungary is the target of high-value transactions via a Bulgarian bank. He has the same family name as Klára Dobrev, former PM Ferenc Gyurcsány’s wife. She is the shadow prime minister of the Democratic Coalition, Gyurcsány’s party. But probably the identical last name is just a coincidence though such allegations can be handy for the opposition. Dobrev is a common Bulgarian name, as e.g. Smith in the UK.
According to Mr Dobrev, Russian oligarchs conduct money laundering in a Bulgarian bank and send large amounts of cash to Hungary. The Bulgarian MP did not name the bank but said it is not Bulgarian. He did not reveal the persons or organisations taking part in the alleged money laundering scheme in Hungary.
Interestingly, there are 24 commercial banks in Bulgaria, most of them in foreign hands. The second biggest is DSK Bank, which is 99.92 percent owned by the Hungarian OTP Bank. They reacted immediately, clearing that they were not concerned about the money-laundering issue and follow strictly local and EU rules. The Bulgarian bank market has several other foreign stakeholders: Americans, Belgians, Estonians, French, Greek, Dutch, Irish, Japanese, Lichtenstein, German, Italian and Turkish.
There should always be proof rather than insinuations. The Bulgarin MP must supply evidence or “keep quiet”.
Evidence or not, most of us don’t have to be geniuses to know, that that is the case.
Having said that, it would have been wise of D. Dobrev to reveal the exact information when being publicly interviewed, but it’s never too late to back up his statement