Flynn and Cunningham met Bulgarian lawyer

A BULGARIAN lawyer yesterday confirmed that he met with Phil Flynn and Ted Cunningham several times in January and planned to help them buy property in Bulgaria.

Boyan Stanoev said, however, they did not finalise any agreement with him and did not register companies or transfer any funds through his firm.

Mr Stanoev, a senior partner in Bazlyankov, Stanoev & Tashev, was recommended to the pair by German-based lawyer and foreign investments specialist John Sturgeon.

Mr Sturgeon travelled with them in Bulgaria in a group which also included former banker Denis O’Connell and a man and woman whose names have not been disclosed for legal reasons.

Mr Sturgeon is currently believed to be in the Isle of Man where he also has business interests and advises clients in financial management and offshore investments. He did not respond to numerous messages requesting an interview.

Bazlyankov, Stanoev & Tashev, a multi-lingual firm offering services in English, German and Russian, bases its practice in Bulgaria’s second largest city, Plovdiv, where Mr Stanoev specialises in foreign investments and commercial law.

Mr Stanoev told the Irish Examiner yesterday that he met the Irish group “several times” in the Crystal Palace Hotel. “These guys wanted to make business as many, many foreigners do. Their main interest was in property. They had certain plans towards this and we really hoped to do business with them,” he said.

Mr Stanoev said Mr Flynn and Mr Cunningham did not tell him how much money they had to invest and they did not get into detail about where in Bulgaria they might invest or what type of development interested them.

He said they had met with “entrepreneurs and developers” and presumed they had talked about specific properties and investment opportunities.

“It was general conversation but we have in Bulgaria a lot of property business so maybe we did discuss some of the hotspots - Sofia, the seaside. I believe we discussed something like this.”

He repeated that no companies were registered through his office and added: “We did not speak about money laundering but only about doing business with real estate. I think they are wrongly accused.”

Mr Stanoev recalled meeting other people at the same time but said he did not remember their names and had not taken their business cards.

The meetings took place in an informal setting in the Crystal Palace Hotel but Mr Stanoev said he did not socialise with the group during their stay.

“I am sorry I did not have a chance. I was quite busy. I hope that these guys are going to be all right because my impression of them was that they were very nice.”

Mr Stanoev said he spoke to Mr Sturgeon last week by phone and they discussed the controversy around Mr Flynn and Mr Cunningham briefly. “We said that it’s a pity that this happens.”

He added he did not know what was going to happen next or if he would hear from the Irish group again. “The only thing I can tell you is that there was nothing unusual in it (the trip) and they have not done anything wrong.”