Ukraine’s General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko in February took over a criminal case from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine against an agricultural tycoon and former billionaire Oleh Bakhmatyuk, owner of UkrLandFarming.
NABU says Lutsenko broke the law.
The case against Bakhmatyuk was opened in 2016. Bakhmatyuk’s VAB bank received an Hr 1.2 billion (at least $100 million) assistance loan from the National Bank of Ukraine in 2014, to pay off the banks debt to investors.
NABU alleges that the funds weren’t received by bank’s investors and were cashed out through shell companies. According to NABU, Bakhmatyuk, with the help from an unspecified first deputy head of NBU, appropriated the funds received from the government institution.
NABU cites that VAB bank inflated the prices of its property to receive the loan, while National Bank officials closed their eyes on major flaws in the bank’s statement and later didn’t see wrongdoing in the bank’s transfer of funds on the accounts of a Cyprus based company, controlled by Bakhmatyuk, himself.
In 2014, VAB bank was deemed insolvent and a temporary administration was introduced. In 2018 the bank seized operation.
According to a letter received by Economichna Pravda from NABU, the case involving Bakhmatyuk was taken over by the General Prosecutor’s Office in February 2019, when according to NABU the investigation was at its final stages.
NABU cites that due to the fact that a top ranked government official was involved in the case, according to the law, Lutsenko doesn’t have the authority to intervene, with all pre-trial activity against top government officials is the prerogative of NABU.
The General Prosecutor’s Office responded to Economichna Pravda that since a reasonable suspicion was issued, the prosecution can take over.
The problem here is that the police, opened an investigation against VAB bank earlier, yet closed the investigation citing insufficient proof, with all case files, over 100 volumes, destroyed by a flood caused by pipe malfunction.
Bakhmatyuk has participated in multiple scandals.
Bank Financial Initiative, owned by Bakhmatyuk followed the path of VAB bank, and was deemed insolvent in 2015. In 2018 head of NBU Valeria Gontareva stated that Bakhmatyuk owes the government institution Hr 10 billion ($370 million).
Another case involving Bakhmatyuk, was a poultry company Omtron USA, bought by the agrarian tycoon in 2011 and later bankrupted, owning funds to over 130 U.S. based local poultry producers.
Bakhmatyuk was unavailable for comment prior to the publication.
