At the request of the Ukrainian side, Ukrainian businessman and former MP Kostiantyn Zhevaho was detained at the ski resort in the French Alps Courchevel, the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) has said.
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"Today, at the request of the SBI investigators, Kostiantyn Zhevaho has been detained in Courchevel. It is known, that he is a defendant in several criminal proceedings at the SBI, and documents for extradition are being prepared," SBI communications adviser Tetiana Sapian said on the air of the Ukrainian telethon on Wednesday.
According to the SBI statement published later on the department's website, in pursuance of the court ruling on the detention of the suspect, the bureau's officers, in close cooperation with the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO), did a great job.
"Among other things, the SBI investigators prepared a petition for detention until they received a request for the extradition of the former MP to 38 countries. For several months, close cooperation continued with law enforcement agencies from different countries, including the justice authorities, the gendarmerie and the police of the French Republic.
"As a result, on the basis of the information received by the investigation, on December 27, in one of the hotels in Courchevel, representatives of the criminal police of the French Republic detained a shareholder of JSC Bank Finance and Credit," the bureau said.
According to the statement "after trying to challenge the legality of the detention, the person involved agreed to leave together with representatives of the competent authorities of France."
"Currently, the necessary package of documents is being prepared for his extradition from the French Republic to Ukraine," the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation said.
The bureau reminds that as part of the investigation of the criminal proceedings, Zhevaho was notified of suspicion of committing criminal offenses under Part 3 of Art. 27, part 5 of Art. 191, part 3 of Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and a number of top managers of the bank were also suspected.
"They organized a mechanism for embezzlement of $113 million of a financial institution, which caused damage to the interests of the state and bank depositors.
"To date, the property of the suspected oligarch, as well as legal entities associated with him, has been seized. In particular, shares of his enterprises worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias: corporate rights companies, 26 real estate facilities. The property of other legal entities associated with the former MP was also seized. Among other things, these are 14 property complexes, 21 parts of property complexes, 30 non-residential premises, ten apartments," the SBI said.
In October 2020, the seized assets worth more than UAH 300 million were transferred to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
As reported, in November, SBI officers conducted searches at enterprises related to Zhevaho, checking for possible collaboration with the enemy. ■