Head of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko has said pretrial investigation of the criminal case against Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, who fled to Russia following the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, in collaboration with a criminal organization committed serious and very serious crimes incurring losses of UAH 14 billion to the state.

At a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday Lutsenko said Kurchenko is suspected of embezzling assets belonging to individuals, organizations and banking institutions, as well as state-owned enterprises.

According to the PGO chief, Kurchenko fled Ukraine in February 2014 and is hiding from the authorities.

As earlier reported, on May 30, 2017 Odesa region's PGO office sent Kurchenko, who had close ties with disgraced ex Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a note of suspicion for creating a criminal organization and legalizing the profits made from the illegal activities.

"On Tuesday, May 30, the Odesa region's PGO office agreed with and sent notification of suspicion to the former chairman of the advisory board of Kurchnko's group of companies for committing a number of crimes, among which was the creation of a criminal organization, large-scale tax evasion, abuse of public office, legalization of illegal revenues, and so on," the PGO's press release said.