ENGAGING THE BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT ON IRAN AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000214

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR ISN, T, AND NEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2017
TAGS: PREL EFIN ETTC KNNP PARMR IR BU
SUBJECT: ENGAGING THE BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT ON IRAN AND
UNSCR 1737

REF: A. SOFIA 186


B. SECSTATE 16917

C. SECSTATE 14071

Classified By: DCM Alex Karagiannis for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Post has actively engaged a variety of Bulgarian
Government officials on Iran and the impact of UNSCR 1737.
On 13 February, the Bulgarian MFA's expert on Iran, Oleg
Doychinov, told us that in December 2006 the MFA alerted all
relevant agencies about the provisions associated with UNSCR
1737 and the entities and individuals designated in the
resolution's annex. He also added that the Council of
Ministers will soon issue a formal decree to highlight the
resolution and mandate the freezing of any discovered assets
to all Bulgarian ministries.


2. (SBU) On 14 February, in advance of the Minister's
upcoming trip to the United States, the Ambassador discussed
reftel C talking points with Bulgarian Minister of Finance
Plamen Oresharski. Though Orseharski did not have any
immediate feedback, he agreed with the provisions and the
need for vigilance and compliance.


3. (C) On 15 February, we shared reftel B talking points
with Dr. Vasil Kirov, Director of the Bulgarian Financial
Intelligence Agency. Kirov was appreciative of the
information and assured us that the entities and individuals
identified in the resolution's annex would be flagged and
that the FIA would initiate a search of Bulgarian financial
institutions to uncover any assets associated with the
designated entities. Kirov also appreciated the discussion
on the inclusion of Bank Saderaat and Bank Sepah on the
Department of Treasury's OFAC List. He stated that he
encourages all banking compliance officers to use the USG's
OFAC list as an information resource and to compare their
transactions against the entities designated by OFAC on Iran,
North Korea, Terror Finacing, etc. Kirov added that since
the USG designated Bank Saderaat in September 2006, Bulgarian
banks had filed five suspicion transaction reports (STRs)
with his Agency due to suspicious transfers of funds from
Bank Saderaat to individuals in Bulgaria. As a result of
further investigations by the FIA and the National Security
Service (NSS),three of the STRs were closed without
incident. As of mid-February 2007, two of the STRs were
still open and were being actively investigated.
BEYRLE