The arrest was imposed at the request of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, which thus secures its claim for UAH 46 billion for losses caused to the bank and its creditors.
The Northern Commercial Court of Appeal confirmed the legality of the arrest of the Ukrainian assets of the former owner of the Finance and Credit bank, ex-People’s Deputy Konstantin Zhevago. This was reported by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) of individuals, writes “Detector Media“. Informs portal PromPolitInform.
The following assets of Zhevago were left under arrest: 50.3% of the corporate rights of PrJSC “Poltava Mining and Processing Plant”, 50.3% of the authorized capital of LLC “Yeristivsky GOK”, 50.3% of the authorized capital of LLC “Bilanivsky GOK”, which are indirectly owned by Zhevago through Ferrexpo.
“The court took into account the confirmation provided by the fund that the defendant did not comply with the requirements of the legislation, according to which the managers, owners of a significant stake and ultimate beneficial owners of an insolvent bank are obliged to provide the fund, upon its request, with information about all property (assets) and liabilities belonging to them (Article 52 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Deposit Guarantee System of Individuals”) and for a long time tried in various ways to hide the fact of possession of property belonging to him, at the expense of which the fund’s claims may be satisfied in the future,” the FGVFO said in a statement.
Recently, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv, at the request of prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office, granted permission for a special pre-trial investigation into Zhevago.
Recall that back in September 2019, Konstantin Zhevago was reported as a suspect in a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of $113 million from JSC “Bank “Finance and Credit”. The property and assets of Zhevago and legal entities related to him, worth more than 300 million hryvnias, were seized and transferred to the ARMA department. At the request of the State Bureau of Investigation, Interpol then put him on the international wanted list.
Zhevago is in France and previously denied the charges. On December 28, 2022, the businessman was detained at the Courchevel ski resort in France at the request of the State Bureau of Investigation on charges of embezzlement in the case of the Bank “Finance and Credit”. Ukraine demanded the extradition of the businessman.
In January 2023, a French court in the city of Chambery decided to release Zhevago on bail of 1 million euros pending a hearing on his extradition to Ukraine. On March 30, a court in France refused Ukrainian law enforcement agencies the right to extradite Zhevago to Ukraine. And on November 10, the Supreme Court of France finally rejected the appeal of the Ukrainian side.
The businessman’s lawyers stated that Ukraine allegedly could not guarantee a fair trial under martial law, as well as the safety of Konstantin Zhevago during constant threats from the Russian army.
In March 2023, a commercial court in Kyiv seized Konstantin Zhevago’s assets worth 46 billion hryvnias as part of a claim by the Deposit Guarantee Fund. According to the institution, the businessman concealed the fact of owning property, at the expense of which the Fund’s claims could be satisfied in the future.
As is known, the son of Konstantin Zhevago, Ivan Zhevago, is the ultimate owner of the company “Atmosphere Entertainment”, in whose favor in December 2017 the shares of the TV channel “Espresso” were alienated. Today, according to YouControl, Ivan Zhevago is the ultimate beneficiary of LLC “Astra Finance”, which owns the company “Goldberry”, which is the legal entity of the TV channel “Espresso”.
