Serbian court overturns extradition for Bulgarian fugitive businessman

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's Court of Appeals overturned on Wednesday an extradition order for the chief shareholder of a Bulgarian bank, sought on charges of embezzlement after a banking crisis.

Tsvetan Vassilev surrendered to Serbian police in September, facing an international arrest warrant. The Serbian authorities seized his passport, banned him from leaving his address and ordered him to report to police every day.

Belgrade's High Court earlier this month ordered Vassilev's extradition to Bulgaria, but the Court of Appeals has returned the case to the court that made the extradition order for it to reconsider.

"The court established that the ruling of the first-instance court was made in violation of legal procedures and was based on incorrect and incomplete facts," the statement said.

"The first instance court has failed to take into account rights of the defendant, guaranteed by both international and domestic laws, hence making an array of violations in that respect," it said.

Vassilev has repeatedly denied wrongdoing after a run on Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), Bulgaria's fourth biggest lender, last June prompted closure of its operations. He blamed the deposit run on a plot hatched by his competitors.

"This is good news, in so far as ... Serbia's court showed procedures should be observed," Vassilev's Bulgarian lawyer Konstantin Simeonov said of the court ruling.

Simeonov has said that Vassilev will go through the whole extradition process and was not willing to return voluntarily, because he would face arrest for at least 72 hours if he does.

In November 2014, the Bulgarian central bank stripped Corpbank from its operating licence and said it would seek the bank's insolvency.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Additional reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)