By KYIV. Nov 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Detectives from the Territorial Administration of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) in Odesa region sent to court an indictment against the former acting board chairperson of Finbank for deliberate evasion of paying UAH 102 million in value added tax (VAT), also accusing her of official documents forgery.
“In the course of investigative and operational actions, employees of the Territorial Administration established that the defendant deliberately did not reflect VAT obligations in her reporting for two months,” BES said in a press release.
The Bureau added that during a search of the defendant’s premises, detectives found, among other things, St. George ribbons, printed propaganda materials, stickers, and postcards with prohibited symbols of the communist totalitarian regime. All items were seized, and the woman was notfied of suspicion of committing a criminal offense under Part 3 of Article 212 (tax evasion) and Part 1 of Article 366 (official forgery) of the Criminal Code.
According to the ruling of the Kyivsky District Court of Odesa dated August 28, BES accuses acting board chairperson of Finbank, who held this position since December 29, 2014, for nonpayment of UAH 102.15 million in taxes. A bail of UAH 10.22 million was set for her.
The case materials indicate that on February 16, 2015, the registration of Finbank as a VAT payer was canceled. From March 3 to December 7, 2015, the acting board chairperson, on behalf of the financial institution, entered into agreements with Platinum Bank on the transfer of collateral/mortgage and alienation of collateral/mortgage property under demand agreements, as well as agreements for the purchase and sale of real estate for UAH 496.25 million, on which VAT was not paid.
“Thus, the taxpayer’s obligation to register as a VAT payer, provided for in Clause 181.1 of Article 181 of the Tax Code of Ukraine, arose in March 2015. However, the corresponding registration application by the taxpayer was submitted only in April 2015,” BES said.
The document does not disclose the name of the head of the Finbank. However, during the specified period, the position of its acting board chairperson was Liudmyla Zoteeva.
The accused was also entrusted with procedural obligations, according to which she cannot leave Odesa region without the permission of the investigator, prosecutor, court, and is obliged to inform the judicial authorities about a change in her place of residence, place of work and surrender her foreign passport.
Finbank was registered in 1993 and liquidated in 2017. In October 2014, Borys Kaufman entered into a non-public agreement to transfer control of almost 80% of Finbank shares to the bank’s minority shareholder Oleksandr Hranovsky. According to the NBU, by January 1, 2016, Hranovsky owned 79.6573% of the shares, Oleksandr Mamontenko and Serhiy Barkov – 9.9571% of the shares each.
