ACF: BACB Does Not Deny Hosting Talks Between TurkStream Tenderers
The Anti-Corruption Fund Foundation (ACF) is publishing the statement by the Bulgarian-American Credit Bank issued in reaction to yesterday’s announcement by ACF about the bank hosting in its offices negotiations between participants in the public tender to upgrade the gas transmission network of state-owned company Bulgartransgaz. Leaked emails have revealed that the secret talks took place in 2019.
ACF comments: In fact, BACB does not deny hosting the meetings. We leave it up to the competent authorities to decide whether such actions represent a concerted anti-competitive practice involving manipulation of a bidding procedure.
The bank’s statement contains a factual inaccuracy which does not reflect well on its knowledge of sanctioning regimes. Both recipients of Tzvetelina Borislavova’s email had been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in June 2017 (the second picture), two years before the email was sent.