Bulgaria's Bromak Objects to Judges Due to Rule on Scrapping of KTB's Licence

KTB headquarters building in Sofia. Photo by BGNES

Bromak, the majority shareholder in Bulgaria's collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank, has challenged the five-judge panel of the Supreme Administrative Court which is to rule on an appeal against the withdrawal of the lender's banking licence.

The defence lawyers for Bromak, a company controlled by businessman Tsvetan Vasilev, on Friday asked three members of the five-judge panel to recuse themselves, saying they would be biased against Bromak in their decision.

Bromak challenged the two other judges on the five-member panel, including its chairman Georgi Kolev, earlier this week. Kolev said on Thursday he wouldn't grant the objection and excuse from the case.

In January, a three-judge panel of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) upheld the central bank's decision to cancel the banking licence of Corpbank, Bulgaria's fourth-largest lender also known by its Bulgarian acronym KTB.

An upholding of the decision by the five-judge panel will open the way for the start of insolvency proceedings against KTB launched by the central bank at Sofia City Court in November last year.

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