The court has authorised a special investigation into the case concerning the embezzlement of funds from the ‘Finance and Credit’ bank
The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv, acting on a request from the State Bureau of Investigations, has authorised a special pre-trial investigation into a Ukrainian oligarch who is a suspect in a case involving the embezzlement of funds from the ‘Finance and Credit’ bank.
In 2019, as part of the criminal proceedings, he was notified of suspicion under Articles 27, 191 and 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Several top managers of the bank were also placed under suspicion.
According to the investigation, they organised a scheme to embezzle US$113 million, causing damage to the state and the financial institution’s depositors.
Investigators believe that between 2007 and 2015, the suspect, together with bank officials, organised a scheme to siphon off funds. Money held in correspondent accounts at foreign banks was pledged as collateral for a loan to an offshore company controlled by the suspect. After the loan conditions were not met, the funds were debited from the bank’s accounts.
As part of the investigation, the assets of the suspect and associated legal entities have been seized. This includes US$158 million in accounts at a Swiss bank, 49 resident companies with their assets transferred to the management of ARMA, as well as the corporate rights of 19 non-resident companies.
Separately, in France, investigators from the State Bureau of Investigations, with the participation of prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, served a notice of suspicion in another criminal proceeding concerning the withdrawal of 519 million hryvnias from the ‘Finance and Credit’ bank. The proceedings took place on 19 March 2026 in Paris at the French National Fraud Investigation Office.
Previously, on 27 December 2022, French law enforcement officers detained Kostyantyn Zhevago at the Courchevel resort at the request of the State Bureau of Investigations. In January 2023, a court in Chambéry released him on bail of 1 million euros. In March of the same year, France refused to extradite him.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing. Under the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
