Former top bank manager suspected of asset stripping: during the investigation, billion-dollar assets of a company linked to a Russian bookmaker were nationalized

The former acting chairman of the board of the bankrupt Kharkiv bank, in organizing the illegal withdrawal of property, during the investigation of the embezzlement of property of a Ukrainian bank, nationalized billions of assets of a company associated with a Russian bookmaker, reported the SBI and the Office of the Prosecutor General, writes UNN.

Details

According to the materials of the Office of the Prosecutor General, "the pre-trial investigation is ongoing in a large-scale proceeding regarding the illegal alienation of property of one of the Ukrainian banks and the activities of companies associated with representatives of the aggressor state."

According to the investigation, as reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, "in 2022-2023, the former acting chairman of the board of the bank, the head of the legal department of the institution, in collusion with other bank officials, representatives of non-resident enterprises and a private notary, by concluding fictitious agreements using forged documents, organized the embezzlement of 8 real estate objects belonging to the banking institution."

Currently, the former acting chairman of the board of the bank has been notified of suspicion of organizing the embezzlement of property on an especially large scale (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and the head of the legal department of complicity in these actions (Part 5 of Article 27, Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

As reported by the SBI, it was established that "to implement the illegal scheme, she involved a legal entity affiliated with the bank's owner." "Another bank official, who acted under her leadership, acted as a representative of this company," the SBI noted.

As indicated by the prosecutor's office, 6 more accomplices involved in the alienation of the bank's property had previously received suspicions.

"During the investigation, it was established that the non-resident companies involved in the scheme have a close connection with the Russian bookmaker brand "1xBet", against which sanctions have been applied in Ukraine. Within the framework of the proceedings, their monetary assets were arrested at the request of prosecutors and transferred to the management of ARMA," the Office of the Prosecutor General reported.

The SBI also reported that in June 2023, at the request of the bureau and the Office of the Prosecutor General, the court arrested and transferred to ARMA's management more than UAH 1.8 billion from the accounts of the non-resident company "SIA ROYAL PAY EUROPE", associated with Russian business.

At the end of September 2024, the Appeals Chamber of the HACC finally satisfied the appeal filed by the Ministry of Justice, based on the materials of the Bureau's proceedings, and applied a sanction in the form of collecting the assets of "SIA ROYAL PAY EUROPE" into the state's income. This refers to funds and securities totaling about UAH 2.5 billion, which were directed to the special fund of the State Budget of Ukraine, the SBI noted.

The Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed that the total amount of arrested and already transferred to the state budget funds is almost UAH 2.5 billion, of which about UAH 500 million is income received by ARMA during the management of these assets. These funds, as reported, will be directed to the Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression.

"In addition, at the request of the prosecutors of the Office of the Prosecutor General, another 39 real estate objects of the bank, with an estimated value of almost UAH 1 billion, were arrested and transferred to ARMA," the message of the Office of the Prosecutor General states.

Addition

The SBI reported that in March 2023, the bureau exposed the illegal re-registration of commercial bank real estate totaling about UAH 360 million. "The scheme was carried out through a Ukrainian company controlled by the bank's owner, as well as two foreign structures on which national sanctions were imposed by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council," the SBI noted.

The bureau's investigation, as indicated, "established that these companies have connections with a well-known Russian bookmaker and other entities whose activities posed a threat to the national security of Ukraine." As a result, foreign companies, whose actual beneficiaries are citizens of the aggressor state, became the owners of the real estate, the SBI indicated.