The regime of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro laundered approximately €500 million through Bulgaria’s Investbank, it is alleged.
The accusation was made in a decree issued by the Sofia City Prosecutor’s Office (SGP) in pre-trial proceedings No 16709/2022 and reported by Bivol, a prominent Bulgarian investigative journalism website.
This revelation, reportedly detailed in official investigative documents, sheds new light on the scale of the operation. It apparently involved transfers routed through 101 fiduciary client accounts.
The probe, initiated following alerts from international partners, allegedly uncovered that between 2017 and February 2019, vast sums – totalling around €500 million – flowed through these accounts.
The funds originated primarily from Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and were allegedly funnelled offshore, with active laundering efforts accounting for at least $46 million (€39.5 million), it was reported.
The accounts were frozen in February 2019 by Bulgaria’s State Agency for National Security (DANS) at the request of the US Embassy in Sofia, then led by Ambassador Eric Rubin, it was reported.
This action followed a meeting involving former Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov and Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsarov.
The freeze halted further transfers and the Specialised Prosecutor’s Office (SP) launched an inquiry under pre-litigation procedure No 38/2019 (later PLP 424/2019).
The SGP decree, dated June 4, 2024, allegedly further reveals that around €450 million of the total sum vanished offshore, with ongoing efforts to trace and recover the assets.
Bulgaria’s prosecutor’s office did not disclose further information to media outlets.
According to Bivol, the €450 million “were transferred to offshore companies in Panama, the UAE and Hong Kong, and the electronic banking of these accounts was accessed from hundreds of IP addresses in the United States and Venezuela”.
Venezuelan opposition figures have in the past urged Bulgarian authorities to return the funds to legitimate Venezuelan institutions rather than Maduro’s cohorts.
Investbank, once dubbed a “bad apple” in a 2006 US diplomatic cable for its alleged shady practices, has faced scrutiny for failing to report suspicious activities.
