Embezzlement of nearly 20 million UAH: former head of a commercial bank has been charged with suspicion.

Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) have announced suspicions against the former chairman of a commercial bank and the ex-director of a private enterprise, who during the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation misappropriated funds from the banking institution.

According to the press service of the SBI, the former bank chairman and the enterprise director are suspected of misappropriating someone else's property in particularly large amounts, committed by a group of individuals in collusion, under martial law (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

They face up to 12 years in prison.

According to the investigation, the businessman approached the bank in July 2022 to obtain a loan of 20 million UAH allegedly for purchasing fabric from foreign manufacturers.

It is noted that the chairman of the board, acting in collusion with the businessman and other officials of the bank, unjustifiably processed the loan despite the lack of corresponding collateral from the enterprise. Subsequently, these funds were transferred to the accounts of non-resident companies and cashed out abroad, while the fabric was never brought into Ukraine.

“This commercial bank was recognized as insolvent by the NBU in October 2022 due to its inability to fulfill its obligations on refinancing loans. The funds of individuals, which amounted to over 1.2 billion UAH held in the bank accounts, will be returned by the state through the Deposit Guarantee Fund,” the statement reads.

According to media reports, this concerns the bank "Sich." At that time, the chairman of the bank was Viktor Demidenko.

Background. Previously, Mind reported that the SBI suspects members of an organized group in the embezzlement of over 3.5 million UAH in "combat" payments for military personnel. The commander of one of the military units in Donetsk region and four of his subordinates paid funds to military units that “de facto were not serving on the front line.”