Bulgartabac
{{Infobox company
| name = Bulgartabac Holding Group AD
| logo = Bulgartabac logo
| native_name = Булгартабак
| type = joint-stock company
| foundation = 1947
| defunct =
| key_people =
| owner = VTB Bank
| num_employees =
| revenue =
| industry = Tobacco
| products = Tobacco
| homepage = [http://www.bulgartabac.bg/ www.bulgartabac.bg]
}}
Bulgartabac Holding Group AD or simply Bulgartabac ({{langx|bg|Булгартабак}}) is a Bulgarian tobacco holding company. Established in 1947 and based in the capital Sofia, it includes 11 joint-stock subsidiary companies in the tobacco-growing regions of the country.
Bulgartabac produces over 50 cigarette brands, monopoly of product, and sub-brands in its modernised factories in Sofia and Blagoevgrad using both domestic and imported tobacco. Amongst the company's brands are Victory, Rodopi, Haskovo, Gorna Djumaya (GD), Arda, Stewardess, Femina, Prestige, Eva, Bulgartabac, MM, Melnik, Seven Hills, Global, Bridge, Tresor, BT, Charlie, Nevada, Orient Express, Country, etc.
In 2011, A unit of OAO VTB, Russia's second-largest bank, was awarded a majority stake in Bulgartabac after the sole bidder offered to pay 100.1 million euros ($145 million) for an 80% stake.{{cite web|url=http://vtbcapital.com/events/2011/moscow/content/news/?ELEMENT_ID%3D93763 |title=VTB Capital's international strategy envisages further expansion of our business into new geographies and markets, including central and eastern Europe |accessdate=2013-07-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517115334/http://vtbcapital.com/events/2011/moscow/content/news/?ELEMENT_ID=93763 |archivedate=2014-05-17 }}
Controversies
Bulgarian news sources Sega and FOCUS linked Bulgartabac to reports that CorpBank banker Tsvetan Vasilev had ordered the assassination of Member of Parliament Delyan Peevski, prompting Bulgartabac to "declare war on CorpBank" and divest itself of all accounts within that institution.{{cite web
|url=http://www.focus-fen.net/news/2014/06/17/339847/bulgarias-bulgartabac-proved-guilty-for-the-rupture-between-mp-peevski-and-banker-vasilev-sega.html
|title=Bulgartabac proved guilty for rupture between MP Peevski and Banker Vasilev
|publisher= FOCUS Information Agency
|date=2014-07-20}}
A 2014 study on Transnational Tobacco Companies (TTCs) penetration of the Bulgarian market after the fall of communism and during that nation's accession into the EU concluded that Bulgartabac was involved with smuggling its own cigarettes out of, and back into, Bulgaria to avoid taxation.{{cite journal
|title=Change in tobacco excise policy in Bulgaria: the role of tobacco industry lobbying and smuggling
|date=2014-05-23
| pmid=23143869
| doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050600
|volume=23
|issue=e1
|journal=Tob Control
|pages=e75–84 | last1 = Skafida | first1 = V | last2 = Silver | first2 = KE | last3 = Rechel | first3 = BP | last4 = Gilmore | first4 = AB|s2cid=207034761
|url=http://opus.bath.ac.uk/33045/1/Skafida_Tobacco_Control_2012.pdf
}}
Bulgartabac has been linked by Turkish Customs officials to a significant role in the production and illegal import of "cheap whites" - substandard cigarettes smuggled in through Iran and Syria to avoid taxation or safety quality standards. Allegedly "they are shipped through the Suez Canal and Red Sea, around the Gulf of Aden and up to Jebel Ali, the transit point. Once there, the tobacco is usually disguised as another product and given fresh paperwork before being shipped onwards to Iraq, where it is smuggled back across the border into Turkey without paying excise duty."{{cite web
|url=http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/economics/smoke-and-mirrors-in-turkey-with-illicit-cigarette-trade#full
|title=Smoke and mirrors in Turkey with illicit cigarette trade
|publisher=The National (Abu Dhabi)
|date=2014-05-10}}
Despite the proximate location to their production facility, Bulgartabac publicly denied involvement with a 1.6 million dollar shipment of contraband cigarettes seized by Bulgarian customs authorities at the Port of Varna in 2010. An investigation into Bulgartabac's alleged role the incident, led by Bulgarian Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov, concluded that the cigarette manufacturer was not responsible but raised the concern that Bulgartabac did not have risk management systems in place to responsibly combat illicit traffic.{{cite web
|url=http://mitnici.eu/en/?action=n&id=4319
|title=Bulgartabac is not behind cigarette contraband in Varna, says minister
|publisher= The Bulgarian Customs Agency
|date=2010-02-22}}
Recently{{when|date=March 2020}}, the Turkish Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Department (KOM) sent a report to Interpol complaining about cigarette smuggling by Bulgartabac and financing terrorism.{{cite news|url=http://www.capital.bg/politika_i_ikonomika/bulgaria/2017/11/13/3077249_turciia_prati_doklad_za_bulgartabak_v_interpol/|title=Турция прати доклад за "Булгартабак" в Интерпол|publisher=capital.bg|date=13 November 2017 |language=Bulgarian|accessdate=27 November 2017}} While the ownership structure of the company is unclear, Bulgarian journalists claim its beneficial owner is Bulgarian media tycoon Delyan Peevski.{{cite news|url=https://frognews.bg/novini/peevski-iztochva-milioni-chrez-bulgartabak-krie-dubai.html|title=Пеевски източва милиони чрез "Булгартабак", крие ги в Дубай|publisher=frognews.bg|date=9 August 2017 |language=Bulgarian|accessdate=27 November 2017}} Social activists argue that Bulgaria's General Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov avoids investigating Bulgartabac's smuggling on purpose.{{cite news|url=http://www.bitelevision.com/bulgartabak-i-teroristite-koj-osashtestvyava-nelegalen-vnos-na-nashi-tsigari-v-turtsiya-i-kade-e-toplata-vrazka-s-dzhihadistki-organizatsii/|title="Булгартабак" и терористите – кой осъществява нелегален внос на наши цигари в Турция и къде е "топлата връзка" с джихадистки организации|publisher=bitelevision.com|date=20 November 2017|language=Bulgarian|accessdate=27 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124082430/http://www.bitelevision.com/bulgartabak-i-teroristite-koj-osashtestvyava-nelegalen-vnos-na-nashi-tsigari-v-turtsiya-i-kade-e-toplata-vrazka-s-dzhihadistki-organizatsii/|archive-date=24 November 2017|url-status=dead}} Former Bulgarian Minister of Justice Hristo Ivanov has drawn attention to the fact that the problem of cigarette smuggling by Bulgartabac is mentioned in every yearly report by the Turkish Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Department and that it is peculiar that Bulgarian authorities have not noticed.{{cite news|url= http://terminal3.bg/zashho-nikoj-ne-razsledva-kontrabantabak/|title=Защо ниКОЙ не разследва "Контрабантабак"?|publisher=Terminal 3|date=1 December 2017 |language=Bulgarian|accessdate=1 December 2017}}