For two years now, there has been no result of the court trial, which has to establish why in the annual property declaration of Kambitov for 2018 there is an amount exactly identical to the profit of “Start 2015”.
Photo: Blagoevgrad News
Because of the extreme public importance of the topic of the relationship of Atanas Kambitov, Mayor of Blagoevgrad with the company “Start 2015”, “Pro Veritas” recalls an investigation by Marieta Dimirova of 26 June, this year. It was published under the headline: “How the lavish birthday party of the Mayor of Blagoevgrad knit a complex legal knot” and sheds additional light on Kambitov’s ties with the company, which, although briefly, he managed illegally during his term.
Two lawsuits should clarify the case surrounding a company to which Blagoevgrad Mayor Atanas Kambitov was the manager, albeit briefly, at the time he was already in charge of the municipality.
The first case is under a complaint by the BSP and was brought before the Administrative Court – Blagoevgrad. Its subject is decision of the Municipal Election Commission by which the Mayor’s powers were not terminated despite the categorical texts in the law concerning such cases.
The second case is a commercial case and is heard in the Blagoevgrad District Court. It was brought by Kambitov himself, who is trying to prove that he was not the manager of the company. In his application, he claims
it was a mistake
and that the signature on the documents filed with the Commercial Register for the registration of the sole proprietorship “Start 2015” is his brother’s Anton Kambitov, not his.
Under the administrative case, information was requested as to whether “Start 2015” had distributed for the year 2017 a profit accumulated until December 31, totaling BGN 84 thousand and to whom it was paid. This is done in order to determine whether the declared BGN 79,800 from other nosiness activity, which the mayor has recorded in his Annual Property Declaration for 2017, is not exactly
dividend from the company he managed? One hypothesis is that these funds were used to prove the mayor’s income in 2017, with which Kambitov’s lavish birthday was paid, in a capital hotel. A comparison with the salary he receives as a mayor shows that his actual income could not be sufficient to cover the bill.
Photo: “Pro Veritas”
In the course of court proceedings against the decision of the Municipal Election Commission in Blagoevgrad, the petition was cited, which the mayor Atanas Kambitov filed with the District Court in the city, requesting the entry of “Start 2015” in the Commercial Register to be annulled.
Atanas Kambitov claims it was a mistake,
his name being written everywhere in the documents instead of his brother’s Anton, who was actually the real manager of the company.
From all this, however, the question arises: what motives with would Anton Kambitov sign his brother under several documents, at the risk of malign him?
In addition, when registering the “Start 2015” in the Commercial Register, Anton Kambitov twice gave instructions for correcting inaccuracies in the submitted documents. But after both corrections, the name of his brother Atanas remains.
If the District Court in Blagoevgrad accepts the mayor’s motives and considers that it is not really him but his brother who acquired the company and was its manager, then
Anton Kambitov should bear the responsibility
for signing his brother and writing his name in official documents.
On the other hand, when a public notary certifies a specimen, he is required to request an identity document in order to establish whose signature he certifies. The notary, in this case Katerina Tamburdzhieva, has affixed her stamp on a document certifying that Anton Kambitov is signing instead of his brother Atanas. According to the law on notaries and notarial activity this is
one of the most serious violations,
that can be admitted.
If a manager or executive director of a company is to be signed, the notary must also be presented with a certificate of current status showing that he or she is the person entitled to sign on behalf of the company.
So another question arises – how did the notary Katerina Tamburdzhieva endorse the specimen if with her was Anton Kambitov with his own identity card and on the document submitted for certification the hand written names “Atanas Stankev Kambitov” are clearly visible?
“Pro Veritas” and the regional electronic publication ”Blagoevfrad News”, sought out the public notary Tamburdzhieva to make clear her position on the topic, but she declined to comment and stated only that “everything happened according to the law”.
Illustration: “Pro Veritas”
During the case brought against the decision of the Municipal Election Commission in Blagoevgrad, lawyer Gergana Yancheva also raised three very important questions:
- Is there a distribution in 2017 of the profits of “Start 2015” EOOD, accumulated until 31.12.2016 in the total amount of BGN 84 thousand, to whom this profit is distributed and for what period?
2. Has “Start 2015” declared this profit distribution with a declaration in accordance with the requirements of the Personal Income Tax Act and who is named in the declaration as the recipient of this income?
3. Has a declaration been filed under the Corporate Income Tax Act and the Personal Income Tax Act?
In the Declaration of property and interests under Art. 35, par. 1, it. 2 of the Law on anti-corruption and for confiscation of illegally acquired property (LACCIAP), in which Atanas Kambitov declared the acquired property, the income received, the collateral provided and the expenses incurred under Art. 37 of the LACCIAP for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2017, in the section “Income beyond those for the position held”, he declared
exactly 79800 BGN
The verification of the specialists we sought for consultation showed that if the dividend from “Start 2015” amounting to 84 thousand is taxed with the foreseen 5% tax rate, that would be exactly 79800 levs, as Atanas Kambitov had recorded in his property declaration for 2017.
Illustration: “Pro Veritas”
If this calculation is correct and the Mayor of Blagoevgrad actually received the profit distributed by Start 2015, it would be a proof that it was not his brother, but him who managed the company in question. And that was at the time when he had already taken the office as a mayor.
Checks and hypotheses
In 2017, several inspections began against the mayor of Blagoevgrad.
In the course of these inspections, it was found that the companies in which Atanas Kambitov had participated as the owner, before becoming mayor of Blagoevgrad, were declared in bankrupcy, liquidated or have liens imposed. A reference with the Registrar Agency found that all movable and immovable property and rights in rem owned by him have been foreclosed.
On this occasion, the “Anti-Corruption Fund” Foundation admitted that in order to satisfy these creditors’ claims, it was likely that a lien was imposed on Kambitov’s remuneration as mayor of Blagoevgrad Municipality.
“… In this situation, it cannot be established that Atanas Kambitov’s extravagant lifestyle is consistent with the income he declared …,” the fund wrote in its signals to the prosecutor’s office.
However, many of the inspections started have been terminated and the results of others have not yet been announced. As expected, and without surprise, the Commission for the Prevention and Detection of Conflict of Interest, for example, terminated the proceedings against Atanas Kambitov, assessing that
there is no conflict of interest.
According to information already published by the National Revenue Agency, its inspection may have started in early September 2017. In its course of proceeding, Atanas Kambitov should have been requested to submit documents and references for the origin of the funds he used to make payments, but two years later the results have not yet been announced.
The only circumstance that is quite clear at this point is that decisions are pending at two courts. The first must determine whether the decision of the District Election Commission in Blagoevgrad to leave Kambitov in his position even though he also co-managed a private company, is lawful.
The second case should answer the question who was the real manager of “Start 2015” in 2017 – Blagoevgrad Mayor Atanas Kambitov or his brother Anton. Or, when the company was entered in the Commercial Register, a ridiculous mistake actually happened that went unnoticed for two years.
