Top Russian bankers are among the new Bulgarians who have received golden passports against investments. These are Dmitri Kushaev, Credit Suisse Head Russia, Roman Nagaev, Head of Investment, Credit & Project Finance at the Russian investment bank VTB Capital and Igor Finogenov, former Chairman of the Management Board of the Eurasian Development Bank and a person close to people in power as evidenced by his photos with former President and former Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

A check in the Property Register shows that Kushaev, Nagaev and Finogenov do not own property in Bulgaria, and a check in the Trade Register shows that they do not own or manage companies, i.e. they have not invested in the real economy, but probably have bought government securities or have deposited money in a Bulgarian bank, as provided by the law on Bulgarian citizenship.

Bulgarian citizen is a top banker close to the Russian government

Igor Finogenov was Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Development Bank from 2006 to 2015, having previously been Assistant Finance Minister of Russia and banker at other banks. According to his 2015 Wikipedia page, he is an adviser to the President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of the Council of Foreign Investors under the President of Kazakhstan.

Finogenov received his Bulgarian passport and became a Bulgarian citizen by Decree 77 of June 4, 2020, file number 23961/2018. To date, he does not own or manage companies in Bulgaria, nor does he own property.

Bulgarian citizen is a Director of Credit Suisse Moscow

Dmitri Kushaev became CEO of Credit Suisse Moscow in 2016, and in 2021 was re-elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the bank. When he received his Bulgarian passport, he was an employee of the Swiss bank in Russia.

Kushaev became Bulgarian citizen by Decree 26 of March 12, 2021, file number 7361/2019. To date, he does not own or manage companies in Bulgaria, nor does he own property.

Bulgarian citizen is a former director of the Russian VTB Capital

Roman Nagaev, a Harvard graduate, is a former Director of Investment, Credit & Project Finance at Russia’s VTB Capital Bank . The bank is known by the nicknames “Putin’s Bank” and the “Bank of the Kremlin” and is represented in Bulgaria by former Finance Minister Milen Velchev.

In parallel with his career at VTB, Nagaev was appointed to the board of directors of PIK Group (First Mortgage Company), a leading construction company in Russia, in which VTB Capital Bank is a shareholder.

No public information has been revealed about Nagaev’s position at the time he received his Bulgarian passport. He became a Bulgarian citizen by Decree 5 of January 29, 2018, and his file was registered only a year earlier under number 5368/2017. To date, he also does not own or manage companies in Bulgaria, nor does he own property. No photo of him was found on the web.

BIRD has data on the persons who have received golden passports as investors and is carrying out a journalistic investigation into their connections with business and politics. In the first article in the series, we revealed the golden passport of Roman Savushkin, obtained at the time when he was the General Director of the United Wagon Company, a strategically important enterprise in Russia.

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