Banking mafia: BES goes after Ibox Bank owner Alyona Shevtsova — court approves special investigation despite pressure and attacks
The Lychakiv District Court of Lviv granted the motion of the detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) for a special pre-trial investigation in the case of Ibox Bank owner Alyona Dehryk (Shevtsova).
This information is reported by the BES.
According to the court, the decision was made despite information attacks and personal harassment of the judges. Prior to the hearing, the court and its head, Zhovnir, were subjected to a large-scale information attack, the post on the court’s website states. According to the investigation, Dehryk, a shareholder of the bank, organized a scheme to legalize 5 billion UAH for illegal casinos using "miscoding".
During the pre-trial investigation, BES detectives announced suspicion to high-ranking bank officials. The investigation materials regarding the organizer of the scheme, Shevtsova, and two other individuals were allocated into a separate criminal proceeding under two articles of the Criminal Code: Art. 203-2 (illegal activity in organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries) and Art. 209 (legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means). BES detectives collected sufficient evidence and conducted necessary examinations; however, since the suspects are hiding abroad and have been put on a wanted list, a motion was filed with the court to apply a special pre-trial investigation.
According to Forbes, in 2022, with the help of schemes related to the gambling business, Shevtsova brought Ibox Bank into the top ten most profitable Ukrainian financial institutions. In 2023, the bank was stripped of its license, and the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) included Ukrainian financial company LEO, Cypriot "LeoPartners", and British Electronic Payment Solutions Ltd, which belonged to Shevtsova, in the sanctions list.
Throughout 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) made a decision to liquidate JSC "Ibox Bank" and JSC "AKB Concord". The regulator justified the decision by systematic violations by these banks of the legislation requirements on preventing and countering the legalization of proceeds from crime, financing of terrorism, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To implement this decision, the Deposit Guarantee Fund, according to the norms of the law on the deposit guarantee system of individuals, began the procedure of liquidating these banks. In December 2023, the institution reported transferring 550 million UAH from JSC "Ibox Bank" to the state budget at the request of the State Tax Service, which audited the bank’s activities before its liquidation began.
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