Ibox Bank owner Degryk-Shevtsova is under special investigation

Ibox Bank owner Degryk-Shevtsova is under special investigation
Photo: esbu.gov.ua

The Lychakiv District Court of Lviv granted the request of detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) to conduct a special pre-trial investigation into the case of the owner of Ibox Bank, the BEB press office reported.

"According to the court, the decision was made despite the information attack and personal persecution against the judges," the statement on the BEB website reads.

According to the investigation, the bank's shareholder Olena Degryk-Shevtsova organized a scheme to legalize UAH 5 billion for illegal casinos using "miscoding".

During the pre-trial investigation, BEB detectives reported suspicions of high-ranking bank officials. The investigation materials regarding the organizer of the scheme, Shevtsova, and two other individuals were allocated to a separate criminal case under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Art. 203-2 (illegal activities in organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries) and Art. 209 (legalization (laundering) of property obtained by criminal means).

"BEB detectives have collected sufficient evidence and conducted the necessary examinations, however, since the suspects are hiding abroad and are wanted, a petition was sent to the court to apply a special pre-trial investigation. Previously, such a mechanism was applied to [former People's Deputy and official Viktor] Medvedchuk, [former People's Deputy Andriy] Derkach and other fugitives, traitors, Russian war criminals and defendants in high-profile corruption cases," the Bureau of Economic Security said.

On March 13, the Lychakiv District Court of Lviv granted the detectives' petition. On the eve of the hearing, the court and its chairman Zhovnir were subjected to a large-scale information attack, according to a post on the court's website.

Context

According to Forbes, in 2022, Shevtsova's gambling schemes helped push 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 added Ukrainian financial company LEO, Cypriot LeoPartners, and British Electronic Payment Solutions Ltd, all of which belonged to Shevtsova, to the sanctions list.

During 2023, the NBU decided to liquidate JSC "Ibox Bank" and JSC "JCB "Concord". The regulator justified the decision by the systematic violation by these banks of the requirements of the legislation in the field of prevention and counteraction to the legalization of proceeds from crime, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In order to implement this decision, the Deposit Guarantee Fund, in accordance with the norms of the law on the deposit guarantee system of individuals, began the procedure for liquidating these banks. In December 2023, the institution reported the transfer of UAH 550 million to the state budget of JSC "Ibox Bank" at the request of the State Tax Service, which conducted an audit of the bank's activities for the period before the start of its liquidation.

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