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Bulgaria: Group called "VIS" and its alleged relationship to organized crime and, if so, the extent, nature and location of its activities

According to a 9 June 1995 article in Transition on the shooting death of Vassil Iliev, he was a former wrestling champion who was:

...suspected to have been involved in the Bulgarian underworld. One Bulgarian newspaper, Democratsiya linked him to the drug trade - a none too exceptional story in this country. Over the past few years, former athletes have gained notoriety in Bulgaria for their alleged involvement in various underworld rackets, often using private security firms as a front for their illegal activities.

Iliev was widely suspected of being involved in the protection racket under the guise of a security firm known as VIS- 1. Last year, Bulgarian authorities shut down many such firms, including Iliev's, suspecting they were involved in car smuggling, extortion, and violating international trade sanctions by exporting fuel to neighboring Serbia. Undeterred, Iliev transformed his company into a private insurance firm called VIS-2.

Iliev's death has sparked fears in Bulgaria that a gangland war will break out in the country. Bulgarian media have linked Iliev's murder to a similar attack just days before, in which three private security guards were gunned down. One suspect arrested in connection with that shooting is an employee of VIS-2 (25).

The information on VIS-2 is corroborated in a  December 1998 article in The Atlantic Monthly on organized crime in Bulgaria. The author claims that the fall of communism:

...provided all sorts of opportunities for people close to power. Olympic wrestlers quickly got their hands on the border checkpoints and the motels along Bulgaria's international highways, for instance, and gleaned revenues from prostitution and currency dealing. This gave them access to the car-theft business, which involved not only local vehicles but also vehicles stolen in Western Europe and then shipped to the former Soviet Union across the Black Sea. ... The same people then formed "insurance" companies: because they were responsible for the thievery, they were in a position to offer guarantees against it in return for hefty premiums. Throughout Bulgaria I saw security-agency stickers on cars and houses -- especially for VIS-2, an agency created by Vassil Iliev, another ex-wrestler, before he was assassinated, in 1995. These stickers had no alarm systems to go with them; they simply showed that the owner had paid protection money. In an example of the new government's determination to fight crime, these stickers were recently banned.

In its November 1998 issue, Life Insurance International reported that Bulgaria's National Insurance Council had refused to issue licenses to seven insurance companies including "Planeta Ins, with which former strong-arm insurer VIS-2 is a partner." According to the National Insurance Council the licenses were refused based on "information received from the National Service for Organised Crime Control that their shareholders had violated the law" (ibid.).

In another reference, on 5 January 1999, BTA reported on a bombing close to an administrative building in Sofia, adjacent to a restaurant that "was owned by the strong-arm group VIS-2." The reasons for the bombing were unrelated to VIS-2, according to police and municipal officials, (ibid.).

The Director of the Institute for Security and International Studies, located in Bulgaria and "established to train top-ranking military personnel and highly qualified civilians in matters of of security and defense policy" (Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe 1997), stated in 2 May 1999 correspondence that he has "never treated this particular issue in a professional way but rather have informed myself through the public debate on it." However, he stated:

'VIS' has been known for years as an insurance company.  However, it did not re-register in 1997 as required by the Bulgarian authorities and presently I am not aware of their functioning.  It has been often named for being involved in organised crime but I do not know of a trial and sentence on the broader issue of belonging to organised crime.  Maybe the judicial system is not yet ready to finalise this issue.

'VIS' has functioned nationally until 1997.  It received a lot of accusations from the Ministry of the Interior which has succeeded to curtail the activity of 'VIS' in a major way but I am not confident of the details of both the accusations and the real activities of this group since no definite sentence is known to me (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

The Atlantic Monthly [Boston]. December 1998. Robert D. Kaplan. "Hoods Against Democrats." [Internet] <www2.theatlantic.com/issues/98dec/bulgaria.htm> [Accessed 27 Apr. 1999]

Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). 5 January 1999. "Bulgarian News Agency Review of the Bulgarian Press for 5 Jan 98." (BBC/NEXIS)

Institute for Security and International Studies [Sofia]. 2 May 1999. Correspondence from Director.

Life Insurance International. November 1998. "Bulgarian Insurance Market Reformed." (NEXIS)

Think Tanks in Central and Eastern Europe: A Comprehensive Directory. Jonathan Kimball. Washington, D.C.: Freedom House.

Transition [Prague]. 9 June 1995. Victor Gomez. "Bulgaria: Wrestling With Organized Crime."

Additional Sources Consulted

Jane's Intelligence Review [Surrey, UK]. January 1997 - January 1999.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1994 - 1998.

Resource Centre. Bulgria country file. January 1997 - April 1999.

Transitions: Changes in Post-Communist Societies [Prague]. January 1997 - January 1999.

Electronic sources: IRB Databases, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD, World News Connection (WNC).