Billionaire Bakhmatyuk accused of billion-dollar theft from NBU: how oligarch could withdraw fortune
Ukrainian billionaire Oleg Bakhmatyuk is facing the risk of a real sentence in the case of the theft of 1.2 billion hryvnias through VAB Bank. The former top manager of the bank Bakhmatyuk, who is hiding abroad like the billionaire himself, has been arrested in absentia as part of the investigation. While Bakhmatyuk continues to give interviews from Vienna, discussing the difficult situation in Ukraine, the special anti-corruption prosecutor’s office is seriously investigating the exposure of the latifundist’s schemes.
Read about what is the “banking case” of Bakhmatyuk and where 1.2 billion UAH have gone, read the article OBOZREVATEL.
Loans with dubious collateral: how Bakhmatyuk took money from the NBU and did not return them
In 2014, Bakhmatyuk received a stabilization loan for 1.2 billion UAH for his VAB Bank. The money was meant to ensure the stable operation of the financial institution. According to the rules, the NBU had to approve the plan for the money’s use and ensure sufficient collateral.
Bakhmatyuk provided the bail, as well as personal guarantees. However, in the same year, VAB Bank closed. The loan from the National Bank had already been withdrawn by that time, and the NABU states that the collateral does not cover the loan size. The value of the pledged property was overstated by 25 times. Law enforcers have questions for both the National Bank employee (how they did not notice the funds withdrawal and issued a loan without sufficient collateral) and for Bakhmatyuk himself and his managers.
The case was reopened, and now the former deputy head of the NBU, Alexander Pisaruk, and the former head of VAB Bank, Denis Maltsev, risk ending up in prison. The threat also looms over Bakhmatyuk himself, who is coincidentally abroad at the moment.
Bakhmatyuk claims that he intended to repay the loan and has repeatedly blamed ex-NBU head Valeriya Gontareva for the bank's closure. However, this version could have been believed only if the National Bank’s money had actually been used to stabilize the bank.
In the court case materials, there is information about how billionaire Bakhmatyuk’s managers withdrew 1.2bn hryvnias from the bank. Once the money arrived in the account, the Cyprus-based Quickom Limited company demanded early repayment of its loan of around 680m hryvnias. According to the National Bank, this company is controlled by Oleh Bakhmatyuk.
In other words, as soon as the billionaire received the money, he promptly transferred it to the account of his Cyprus-based company. Additionally, companies associated with Bakhmatyuk received their deposits ahead of schedule (Trostyanets Meat Factory, Svitanok), totaling about 370 million hryvnias. This occurred at a time when ordinary people could withdraw no more than a thousand hryvnias a day.
Another UAH 681m was returned to companies associated with Bakhmatyuk (the banks allegedly had debts to them). This indicates that both the money from the National Bank and the depositors’ money on the eve of VAB Bank’s closure went to companies associated with Bakhmatyuk.
How billionaire Bakhmatyuk can be punished and why this is just a drop in the bucket
Bakhmatyuk took significantly more funds from the NBU for his banks. Law enforcers have now concentrated their efforts around the UAH 1.2bn case, it has actually already been investigated by the NABU, but changes in investigative jurisdiction (a few years ago the case was transferred to the police for no obvious reason) and attempts to close the investigation have significantly delayed the final denouement.
If all the charges are proven, Bakhmatyuk may be charged with fraud. And that’s a real sentence. Meanwhile, the billionaire’s total debt to the National Bank amounts to over UAH 8,6 billion (the figure was announced by the NBU after Bakhmatyuk’s two banks were liquidated).
But, apart from banking cases, billionaire Bakhmatyuk’s possible crimes are also being investigated in Ukraine and in international jurisdictions. For example, the international company Gramercy Funds Management LLC accused him of withdrawing almost 1 billion dollars of assets from UkrLandFarming Plc. As a result, the company’s bondholders suffered, including Gramercy itself.
Read more about other investigations into Bakhmatyuk soon on OBOZREVATEL. As for the issue of the withdrawal of funds from the NBU: if the NABU and SAP are to be believed, these crimes have already been proven. For many years, the banks of Ukrainian oligarchs have been used for money laundering and tax evasion. Moreover, these same banks received tens of billions of dollars from the NBU (actually budget money) ostensibly to stabilize their activities. However, as a result, the banks were closed with huge holes in the budget, and the loans were never repaid.
Bakhmatyuk’s case may become a showpiece. And after him, other oligarchs who own banks that have already been closed down may also suffer. OBOZREVATEL will continue to report on Bakhmatyuk’s case and will also soon publish data on other agrarian oligarchs.
TALE: Oleg Bakhmatyuk: the billionaire from the egg. PART 1.
VABC authorises investigation in absentia against former head of VAB Bank
Oleg Bakhmatyuk’s eight days. Why one court arrested him and the other ordered to close the case
