Finance and Credit bank beneficiary Zhevaho notified of suspicion in France
Former lawmaker and beneficiary of Finance and Credit bank was notified of suspicion in France in a case involving the withdrawal of more than half a billion hryvnias, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said.
The post does not specify a name but refers to Kostiantyn Zhevaho.
"Today in Paris, in execution of a request for international legal assistance, authorized bodies of the French Republic with the participation of Ukrainian prosecutors and State Bureau of Investigation detectives served a notice of suspicion to a former lawmaker and owner of Finance and Credit bank, which is in liquidation," the prosecutor general wrote on Telegram Thursday.
According to him, the suspect is accused of creating and leading a criminal organization, embezzlement of property in especially large amounts and legalization of criminally obtained income.
"After being served the notice of suspicion, he was interrogated in the status of a suspect," the prosecutor general noted.
According to the investigation, the suspect, who for a long time actually controlled more than 96% of the statutory capital of Finance and Credit bank, created and headed a stable hierarchical criminal organization consisting of the bank’s top management. "Its activity consisted of systematic withdrawal of the bank’s funds through a network of controlled companies and foreign financial institutions: from concluding fictitious credit and guarantee obligations to subsequent withdrawal and legalization of funds abroad," the post said.
As the prosecutor general indicated, this essentially involved using the bank’s financial resources, including depositors’ funds and refinancing from the National Bank of Ukraine, for the beneficiary’s private interests. "The total amount of established losses exceeds UAH 519 million," he wrote.
"During notification of suspicion, he stated it was unfounded and that the prosecution was political in nature. We were prepared for this. The investigation continues," Kravchenko noted.
