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“Why don’t you drop some of the cake to solve your problems?” This advice has been repeatedly received through intermediaries by businessman Veselin Denkov, who is now in custody, accused of participating in a criminal group organized for organized crime and extortion. The prosecution is trying to build the image of Denkov as the man of Vasil Bozhkov, who is financing protests against the government and the attorney general. This is clear from the story of his lawyer Stoimen Chakalov to Mediapool.
Vesselin Denkov is one of Sofia’s relatively famous businessmen, known in their circles as “Veso Bradata” and “Veso Vodenitsata”, after the name of his restaurant “Vodenitsata” at the foot of Vitosha. He has built a serious business with several famous restaurants and the non-bank finance house Marshall Credit Group. On September 1, Denkov was surprisingly detained at the Kalotina border checkpoint on his return from vacation, accompanied by his longtime girlfriend, Ivayla Bakalova.
Already on September 3, two days after his arrest, the prosecutor’s version of the new Veselin Denkov case was published in the 24 Chasa newspaper. The specialized prosecutor’s office points to Ivaylo and Alexander Georgievi (father and son), known as Pifa and Little Pif, as the main actors of the blackmail and extortion gang. They own pawn shops mainly in the Lyulin district, and there were several other people in the group.
According to the special prosecutor’s office, the gang operated from January 2018 to August 28, 2020, when the Pif were arrested during an action by the special prosecutor’s office and anti-mafia members of the GDBOP. Secret and open witnesses, a total of a dozen, told special prosecutors that Ivo Pifa’s pawnshops operated with money from Veso Bradata, the newspaper reported.
“He was very influential and assured his relatives that if any of them were arrested, he would take them out the next day,” said another prosecution witness.
Witnesses for the prosecution are clearly overestimating Denkov’s influence because he has not been able to resolve problems with the prosecution for years.
The new case, Vasil Bozhkov, the gypsies and the protests
The assumptions about the crimes committed by Denkov are based on secret witnesses and witnesses so obvious that they tell the story of racketeering and extortion with “talk”, “prosecution” and “I heard” and so on. The allegations are that a chain of pawn shops blackmailed their clients. The pawnshops were financed by Denkov’s companies, who had a large business. Curiously, the evidence gathered so far is not enough even for publication in some of the more specific media. who am I talking about ”, says the lawyer. Чакалов.
He added that “absolutely all the witnesses follow the principle of copy and paste under the indigo.”
The biggest problem is the backward thinking that the state prosecutor’s office has, against whose untouchable boss the civil protest is directed. Most of the witnesses to Lyulin’s racketeering and racketeering case have been questioned about the protests.
“Obviously this is the hidden subtext. Denkov had met with Roma leaders to participate in the protests. We all see the protests and there are no Roma groups there. These people often meet during counter-protests,” the lawyer commented. Чакалов.
The other desired connection is with businessman Vasil Bozhkov, who is hiding in Dubai. When witnesses to this case were identified, one of the photos displayed was of Vasil Bozhkov. Vesselin Denkov has never had anything to do with Bozhkov, including the joint venture, his lawyer said.
The alleged connection of the Pif with Denkov is the non-bank credit institution – “Marshall Credit Group”. This company is licensed to offer loans and Denkov is the majority owner. There have been several instances in which Marshall’s clients have borrowed against material commitments and been referred to a pawn shop. There was a case of a client who took out a mortgage loan from a pawn shop and was sent to Marshall. This loan has been successfully repaid and completed.
“This is the only contact with the pawn shops. There is no prior knowledge of Denkov, there is no structure, distribution of tasks and other similar connection of Denkov with the pawn shops,” said his lawyer.
Give me some of the cake, man
The prosecution’s most serious suspicion so far about Veselin Denkov was the extortion case of the murdered Stanka Marangozova. Veso Bradata and Ivo Maslarov (Emilia Maslarova’s adopted son) are accused of blackmailing Marangozova.
Stanka Marangozova was shot by a motorcyclist on October 11, 2019 in the capital’s Mladost district. The murder took place in front of the block where she lives with her husband Dinko Gerov. The assailant fired through the open window of Marangozova’s car as she parked. On the day of the murder, prosecutors brought charges against two people for extortion by Marangozova. The indictment states that more than BGN 860,000 was confiscated from him under duress.
During her lifetime, Marangozova was accused of fraud in the management of trusts of approximately BGN 1.4 million, “Bivol” recalls. However, more than 60 million BGN have passed through related accounts.
“His ‘clients’ are very rich people with opportunities, even talking about Rumen Nikolov-Pasha, etc.”, says the lawyer. Чакалов.
In 2012, Marangozova contacted Denkov and offered him a trust management contract, introducing himself as an investment intermediary for the well-known company Status Invest. The problem is that she is a client, not an employee of Status Invest, says the lawyer. Чакалов.
“With false documents, she pretends to be a consultant, says she has inside information on the stock market that can provide a very high return. After Denkov reveals that Marangozova is not licensed, she returns the money. It happens because of Denkov, it is states that 60 million BGN has passed through his accounts. After starting a case against him, he somehow begins to cooperate with the prosecution and gives them information, “said the lawyer. Чакалов.
From that moment on, Denkov’s problems began. He is accused of blackmailing Stanka Marangozova, who was taken to the Specialized Court on three occasions, which returned the accusation in full on three occasions. So far, the case cannot be started. The extortion is for a property of more than 800,000 BGN, and Denkov and Maslarov are listed as the people who wanted her to sell the property and hand over the money.
“The property in question, which Denkov is said to have blackmailed Marangozova, has already been mortgaged in a bank and later confiscated by the prosecutor’s office. That is, even if we assume that Denkov really wanted her to sell it, then he obviously did. in favor of the bank and the prosecution itself, and not in favor of someone else, “said the lawyer. Чакалов.
In this context, all these years Denkov has received some strange messages through intermediaries that his problems can be solved. If we can make an analogy with Bozhkov, Vasil Bozhkov says that he paid a “quiet” fee for his business, while Denkov has always refused. A specific amount has never been said, through intermediaries, even celebrities have been used. “Why don’t you solve your problem?”, “Why don’t you drop some of the cake?” – says his lawyer.
Business problems
So far, Marshall Credit Group has not had any issues with supervisors, but has had issues with the GDCOP. The server and credit files were confiscated during an anti-mafia hunt. “This is blocking an institution for which the BNB has not found any problems for more than 10 years,” said the lawyer. Чакалов.
On Friday evening, employees from six institutions, including the Economic Police and the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, gathered at the Vodenitsata restaurant, packed with customers. Along with them are the Regional Health Inspectorate, the National Revenue Agency, the Fire Department and the Labor Inspectorate. At the time, Veselin Denkov was in custody and did not know what was happening to the other part of his business.
“And while in ‘Hypoland’ a discrepancy of BGN 3-6 was found, in ‘The Mill’ it was not found either,” says the lawyer. Чакалов. However, he could not understand the restaurant’s connection to the pawnshops of the Pif, the Roma barons, Vasil Bozhkov, and ultimately the protests against the government and the attorney general.
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