Bulgarian National Bank demands 10-year imprisonment sentence for spreading false information on banks

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) has proposed amendments to the Bulgarian penal code envisaging imprisonment for those who disseminate misleading information about banks, the Bulgarian newswire Novinite reported June 30.

“The institution has tabled its proposal containing suggested legal changes to Parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee headed by liberal lawmaker Yordan Tsonev (DPS),” the bank stated in its message to the local media, as reported by the newswire.

According to the BNB, an additional article should be created in the Bulgarian penal code’s crimes against the monetary and credit system section. The bank proposed that this article state that those who “disseminate misleading or untrue information on a bank or a financial institution that could create panic among the population, be punished with five to 10 years of imprisonment,” as cited by the newswire.

In addition to the prison sentence, the bank also proposed a fine ranging between BGN 5,000 and BGN 10,000 to be imposed in such cases and added that the same punishment should be applied to those causing a significant damage or having received significant illegal revenues through the aforementioned activities.

The BNB’s proposal is a follow-up of the recent events in Bulgaria, where rumors frightened a number of people into withdrawing their money from Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB), and more recently, from First Investment Bank, from which more than BGN 800 mln was withdrawn just in a few hours after the bank’s customers received anonymous text messages about alleged First Investment Bank problems.

Following these events, KTB was placed under BNB’s special supervision and First Investment Bank asked the European Commission for a special credit line to be opened in order to guarantee the bank’s liquidity.

The Bulgarian Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security (DANS) launched an official investigation last Friday into attempts to destabilize the Bulgarian banking system. The agency has already detained three individuals over alleged involvement in the attack on First Investment Bank.