The court has ruled to detain an employee of bank Finance and Credit (Kyiv) implicated in the illicit removal of over UAH 1 billion worth of the assets from the bank with an UAH 41.34 million bail option, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

He said on Facebook on Thursday that Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) jointly with the National Police and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) revealed officials of bank Finance and Credit who using nonresidents, including an offshore company the ultimate beneficiary of which is the former assistant to a lawmaker, illegally removed over UAH 1 billion worth of the bank's assets.

"Today [on Thursday] one of the participants of the criminal group – O.Demchenko – was informed that he is suspected of committing a crime under Part 3 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine [misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion of property by abuse of official post committed by a group of person upon their prior conspiracy]. These actions shall be punishable by restraint of liberty for a term of up to 12 years with confiscation of property," Lutsenko said.

The PGO's press service said that during the pretrial investigation it was established that officials of bank Finance and Credit colluded with other persons and signed a surety agreement with nonresidents (one banks was located in Austria). Some $53.7 million was sent to the bank's correspondent accounts, which were used as a guarantee by the Ukrainian bank guarantor to cover risky activities of the offshore company registered in Cyprus. The funds were lost after signing the fraudulent financial deals and reporting them. The bank and its depositors incurred significant losses as a result.

At present, an investigation is underway, the press service said.