From Novinite

Identifying Bulgaria's richest people has always been a nearly-impossible task, given the multitude of off-shore companies operating in the country, many of which over the years have been linked by media reports to prominent businessmen, though few businessmen ever acknowledged the link.

According to Polish weekly Wprost, which ranks Eastern Europe's richest people every year, Bulgaria's richest person in recent editions of the ranking was controversial businessman Vassil Bozhkov, whose ventures ranged from gambling to road-building.

Not so, according to Bulgarian financial daily Pari, which ranked Bulgaria's richest on December 7. Notably, however, Pari's ranking only took into account publicly-available data, such as Trade Register and stock exchange reports, as well as State Gazette notifications and confirmed media reports. Luxury goods and property, as well as personal income was not taken into account.

Using that criteria, the richest Bulgarian was Tsolo Voutov (61), the majority shareholder and chief executive of mining and construction group Geotehmin, with an estimated net worth of 438 million leva. The group's largest subsidiary was copper and gold smelter Elatsite-Med, but the group's numerous construction subsidiaries combined to generate a rising share of the revenues, Pari said.

Second was Mitko Subev (49), one of the two main shareholders in Petrol Holding, the parent company of fuel retailer Petrol, who was previously also the chairperson of a bank he later sold to Greek banking group Piraeus. He was worth 414.7 million leva.

Two of the main shareholders in the Varna-based industrial group Chimimport, Ivo Kamenov and Marin Mitev, were each valued at 296 million leva. The duo were two of the main shareholders in industrial group TIM, which German journalist Juergen Roth has accused in a recent book of ties to organised crime and Bulgaria's communist-era security apparatus. Both have denied the allegations.

In fifth place was 73-year-old Vassil Zlatev, mayor of the town of Pravets in 1968/89, whose business ventures since the 1990s ranged from agriculture to luxury hotels and golf courses, with a net worth of 286.7 million leva. Somewhat surprisingly, his son Valentin Zlatev, the chief executive of Russian oil giant Lukoil's subsidiary in Bulgaria, about whom the media often speculates that he wields vast power behind the scenes, was not in the list of 100 richest Bulgarians.

Other notable omissions from the list were Hristo Kovachki – whose business interests ranged from banking and insurance to mining and energy – and Nikolai Gigov, alleged to have amassed a fortune from arms deals he mediated, but who has varied his investments, the most notable of which were a plant to process refuse near Plovdiv.

Although Valentin Zlatev, Kovachki and Gigov often are cited as some of the richest business people in the country, neither of them fit the survey's criteria, Pari said. "
Searches in the Trade Register complicate the verification of the 'facts' speculated online about them to an extreme degree,"
Pari said.

Bozhkov, said to be one of the largest shareholders in leading construction group Mostroy, which filed for bankruptcy in October, did not even make the top 10, finishing just outside in the 11th spot.

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Tip, of the iceberg??