GPU: Privatbank Officials Allegedly Embezzled ₴19 Million of Refinancing

The main investigations department of the Prosecutor General’s Office is carrying out a pretrial investigation in a criminal case that was registered in the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations on November 13, 2014 on embezzlement of funds of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on an especially large scale by Privatbank officials.

This is confirmed by the corresponding court decision of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv City dated July 29, 2016.

According to the materials of the case, the pretrial investigation contends that Privatbank officials embezzled funds of the NBU totalling in ₴19 million provided for refinancing of Privatbank.

The prosecution alleges Privatbank officials gave out loans to 42 companies that they have control of, and the companies have concluded agreements with 100% prepayment and have transferred the money to the accounts of non-resident with the purpose to receive goods. However, the goods were not received until this time, and the funds have not been returned either.

Accordingly, Privatbank officials have allegedly not ensured the covering of possible losses due to non-fulfilment or inadequate fulfilment of the loan agreements. The prosecution claims that the above-mentioned ₴19 million were transferred by 42 residents of Ukraine to six accounts of non-resident sellers in PrivatBank Cyprus.

In a comment to Finbalance, Privatbank representatives said that the information about a mere possibility to transfer NBU refinancing anywhere is not professional and is not true. They explained that according to the requirements of the NBU, this money was used to cover the outflow of funds of individuals.

"The opinion of some of our competitors that the bank used refinancing for something other than to return deposits to individuals is unfounded," the message says.

Source: Ekonomichna Pravda