The Prosecutor General's Office announced that an indictment has been sent to court against 21 individuals who, as part of a criminal organization, embezzled almost 90 million hryvnias from commercial bank depositors. The PGO reported this on its Telegram channel.
According to UNN sources in law enforcement agencies, the case concerns Viktor Topolov (Minister of Coal Industry of Ukraine 2005–2006), the owner of the "Zemelny Kapital" bank, which went bankrupt in 2021.
Details
The investigation established that the former Minister of Coal Industry of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine, and former People's Deputy of Ukraine, after acquiring a commercial bank, developed a criminal scheme to withdraw funds from bank depositors. He involved the Chairman and members of the board, supervisory board, heads of structural units of the bank, private entrepreneurs, appraisers, and state registrars in the scheme.
The embezzlement of funds involved issuing non-repayable loans secured by non-existent property, and the money was transferred to controlled enterprises to finance business projects, purchase luxury cars, and real estate. Bank employees annually recorded the "presence" of non-existent collateral.
As a result, the bank became insolvent in 2021. To compensate for the damages, 12 apartments, 5 private houses, land plots, 12 luxury cars, 12 parking spaces, and the corporate rights of the defendants were seized.
The maximum penalty for these articles is 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.