The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has notified former MP Kostiantyn Zhevaho of suspicion of involvement in siphoning UAH 2.5 billion from Bank Finance and Credit.

"Using the in-absentia procedure, they issued a note of suspicion to former MP Kostiantyn Zhevaho, who had previously been examined for involvement in a criminal scheme for embezzlement and legalization of UAH 2.5 billion from Bank Finance and Credit," Olha Varchenko, the SBI's first deputy director, wrote on Facebook on Friday.

According to her, it was established during a pretrial investigation that in 2007-2014, an offshore company opened credit lines in foreign banks, subsequently an agreement on over $113 million collateral was signed between Finance and Credit and foreign banks, the Ukrainian bank acted as a guarantor.

"In 2015, the foreign banks recovered that $113 million from Bank Finance and Credit's accounts for failure by an offshore company to fulfill obligations under loan agreements. The foreign banks wrote off the deposit right after Bank Finance and Credit was declared insolvent," Varchenko explained.

She also noted that before notifying Zhevaho that he was a suspect, the SBI, together with other law enforcement agencies had done extensive work to analyze financial documents.

"As a result, materials were collected that gave reason to believe that the parliamentarian of the 3rd-8th convocations, who is the beneficial owner of the bank, was involved in organizing a criminal scheme to embezzle the funds of his own bank.

Also, Varchenko clarified, the investigation established that the funds received on the bank's guarantee were used in favor of foreign companies that belong to Zhevaho.

According to her, Zhevaho was notified in absentia of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 (organizing embezzlement of other individual's or entity's property by prior agreement), Part 3 of Article 209 (legalization of proceeds of crime in especially large amounts) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Earlier, as part of the investigation, two top managers of the said bank were notified of suspicion. Also, in two criminal cases, seven former bank officials were notified of suspicion, four of which are currently wanted in Ukraine and abroad.

On September 27, Zhevaho was summoned by the SBI for interrogation to notify of suspicion and questioning as a suspect.