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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
A huge corruption scandal has erupted in Bulgaria involving Ukrainian developer Oleg Nevzorov. Authorities have found that his KYB Development company built over a forest in Varna without the necessary documents. Near the popular resort Golden Sands, Nevzorov and his partners over 2023-2026 years constructed more than 100 homes. Journalists uncovered intriguing connections involving Nevzorov, an Odessa native, and it seems clear who could have covered and financed this large scheme in Varna.
Oleg Nevzorov is a developer in Odessa. His firms built Gagarin Plaza, Golden Beach, Tairovskiy Gardens neighborhood, Aqua Marine residential complex, and more. Since the start of the large-scale invasion, KYB Development has actively entered the Bulgarian market. According to information on the official website, the company is building at least seven real estate objects there, runs three food establishments, and has a public organization supporting Ukrainians in Bulgaria.
Oleg Nevzrov is the head or co-founder of a dozen Bulgarian companies. Most are registered in Varna at the same address. The Nevzorov restaurant Time is also located there.
The most active firms that have been exposed in the illegal construction of the Varna forest are Forest Club Varna and VilApart Arkanum. The first company has a authorized capital of almost 109 thousand euros. Nevzorov is the manager there. Founders include Ukrainian Vladimir Fadeev, Bulgarian resident Anna Livadova, and the firm Godelux.
Forest Club Varna was founded in 2011, but Nevzorov joined much later. After the company bought from another firm – AutoExpress, hotel and related premises in the Baba Alino area of Varna. It is these premises that later became the basis for obtaining building permits in the forest, part of which was illegally cut down.
Anna Livadova is originally from Odessa. In the Ukrainian court registry one can find several cases involving loans where she and Nevzorov appear together. She also has a relative Natalia Livadova who heads at least one construction company in Bulgaria.
The firm Godelux, which holds a stake in Forest Club Varna, belongs to Ukrainian citizen Ihor Zghurov.
Ihor Zghurov is a co-owner of the Odessa MTB Bank. Another co-owner of the bank is Mykhailo Partikevich, a well-known developer in Odessa.
Law enforcement suspected MTBank employees of withdrawing 300 million hryvnias through fake loans, shell companies, and disguised financing.
Mykhailo Partikevich, according to Ukrainian registries, is a resident of Slovakia. At least this is where his registration is listed.
Ihor Zghurov, who once headed Odessagaz and was a deputy of the Odessa City Council, moved to sunny Dubai. Records show at least two residence addresses in the UAE. One apartment is on The Palm Jumeirah island. The building faces a viewing platform overlooking the island from a bird’s-eye view. Also from the house where Zghurov resides one can access a yacht club and a private beach.
Another house where Nevzorov's business partner once lived or still lives is in the Jumeirah Lake Towers business district. It is a picturesque quarter with artificial canals and views of Dubai's tallest skyscrapers.
Anna and Natalia Livadova also appear in Nevzorov’s Bulgarian firms KUB Estate LTD and VilApart Arkanum. The second company owns land in various Varna districts, including Baba Alino. It is an active participant in the Varna forest development, which is being investigated by law enforcement.
The head of Godelux, the former deputy of the Odessa City Council Ihor Zghurov, who is Nevzorov’s business partner in Varna construction, is Vyacheslav Savastikov. He is an Odessa-based lawyer who also features in some of Nevzorov’s Bulgarian firms.
And this is not all Odessa residents Nevzorov brought to Varna. His partner in the Bulgarian restaurant business is the son of an Odessa businessman and local council deputy – Mykhailo Polariyev. The Polariyev family runs real estate and agricultural-industrial business. The father of Nevzorov’s partner in 2020 year ran for the Odessa regional council from the pro-president party “Servant of the People.”
Interestingly, Bulgarian registers list Mykhailo Polariyev as a Romanian citizen. Nevzorov is planning to build a hotel at the capital city airport of that country – Bucharest. This project is published on the KYB Development site.
Nevzorov has two Varna restaurants – Stefania and Time, as well as a nightclub “Grain.” Mykhailo Polariyev helps manage these establishments through Bulgarian firms 4 – Rest LTD and Primo Rest.
Another Bulgarian company of Oleg Nevzorov is Business club Varna LTD, which organizes events. A partner in this business is Odessa host and producer Denis Tsykanovsky, known for work on “Prosto Radi.O.” In his social media profiles he confirms he resides in Varna.
Co-founder of K&B Invest Varna LTD, registered in the summer 2024 with Odessa-born Anna Livadova and Nevzorov’s KUB – Developments Ltd, is Viktor Berber. He is a deputy of Usatove rural council in Odessa region from the party “For the Future.” Because he failed to disclose millions in assets in his declaration, the NABU fined him 17 thousand hryvnias.
Local press reported that Berber’s wife and daughters lived in Varna since 2022, but he did not mention this in his declaration either.
Bulgarian media wrote that Viktor Berber is one of those who bought housing in Nevzorov’s forest-turned development in Varna.
Among other buyers was named the former head of Ukraine’s tax service and the BIB Vadym Melnyk. A man with that name indeed owns two companies in Bulgaria, but whether he is the former Ukrainian official could not be confirmed.
At least, considering Bulgarian firms have been operating from 2016-2017 years, none of Vadym Melnyk’s declarations reflected it. Yet he is connected to Odessa, as journalists found an apartment of his in an elite residential complex in a resort area purchased twice below market value.
Regarding the development in Varna, four criminal proceedings have been opened: for illegal logging, for document forgery, for improper actions by local officials, and for misrepresentation of data about buildings that stood on this site before Nevzorov’s large-scale construction.
Bulgarian parliament deputy Boyko Rashkov, former interior minister, stated that Nevzorov fled to Turkey across the border with Romania. He also describes close ties between the businessman and the Ukrainian ambassador to Bulgaria, Olesya Ilašchuk.
The woman denies helping Nevzorov hide. However, close contacts between them are confirmed by numerous photos from events organized by Nevzorov’s public organization — We Are Together.
The appointment of the woman to the post was criticized, as Ilašchuk had no diplomatic experience; she had worked as a gestalt therapist. At the end of last year, the ambassador’s daughter-in-law in Bulgaria was detained in Odessa on suspicion of murdering the Kharkiv deputy mayor’s son. The murder occurred in Vienna. Investigations revealed the deceased was struck with a blunt object and then burned in a car.
Ambassador Olesya Ilašchuk to Bulgaria was suspended from her post. However, as of now there have been no official announcements, and the woman continues to perform her duties.
Bulgarian parliament deputy and former head of the National Security Organization Rumen Milenov, commenting on the Varna development, noted how quickly more than 100 houses rose and how easy it was to approve it with local authorities. “To build this object in this way, on this scale in time and space means there is influence of powerful internal and external factors. It means internal funds are directed in or come from outside. They say they came from Dubai. And the question is tracing the money flows, which is extremely important for financial security affecting the nation. The big question is who stands behind these financial flows and behind this enormous silence,” said General Milenov.
One of those who effectively facilitated the construction in the Baba Alino area was then head of Varna’s Regional Inspectorate for Environmental Protection and Water Resources Erjan Ebatin. He was recently a fellow party member of Bulgarian oligarch and politician Delyan Peevski, who is under US and UK sanctions for suspected large-scale corruption. Bulgarian media report that he may control up to 80% of Bulgaria’s information market.
Peevski is acquainted with Ukraine’s ambassador to Bulgaria, Olesya Ilašchuk. They have at least two public meetings. In one, Ilašchuk presented Peevski with a parliamentary certificate, which caused a huge scandal since such steps toward a person under sanctions are inappropriate.
Peevski was or is a resident of Dubai. Leaks from Dubai registers show that his mother owns a villa in Emirates Hills, one of Dubai’s most prestigious districts. There are properties there belonging to global show business celebrities, footballers, and the world’s richest people.
It also became known that the plausible mothers of his children are Bulgarian singer and lawyer, who rent apartments in Dubai. This information is in the Dubai registry leaks.
Thus, it is quite possible that Peevski referred to in the Bulgarian general’s statement about financing Nevzorov’s project from the UAE.
Additionally it is worth noting that in Dubai also lives Nevzorov’s business partner Ihor Zghurov, the former Odessa deputy.
Therefore, to implement projects in Bulgaria, Nevzorov recruited at least 9 well-known Odessans. He has close contacts with the Ukrainian ambassador to Bulgaria and is likely linked to the Bulgarian oligarch under sanctions Deyan Peevski.
Nevzorov insists that his constructions in Bulgaria are completely legal, and that the criminal cases are political pressure. If so, why did he flee the country he calls his second home in an interview? The question remains open.
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