Volodymyr Yatsenko was detained at Boryspil Airport in Kyiv
Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested the former deputy chairman of a Ukrainian bank at the heart of an FBI criminal investigation as he attempted to fly abroad in the latest sign Kyiv is taking steps to tackle corruption and lawlessness.
Volodymyr Yatsenko was detained at Boryspil Airport in Kyiv
on February 22 after investigators forced the pilot of the private jet he was
traveling on to land, the bureau announced in a tweet.
Yatsenko, who was on his way to Vienna after reportedly
being tipped off about his arrest, was charged with the embezzlement of funds
at PrivatBank, once the nation’s largest lender.
More arrests of management could follow, the Kyiv Post
reported.
The FBI is investigating the two owners of PrivatBank --
Ihor Kolomoyskiy and Hennadiy Boholyubov -- in connection with accusations that
more than $5 billion was stolen from the lender through fraudulent loans and
that the money was then laundered.
In a move that made international headlines, Ukraine was
forced to nationalize PrivatBank in 2016 and pump more than $5 billion into the
lender in order to stave off its bankruptcy.
The United States accuses Kolomoyskiy and Boholyuobov of
using some of the laundered proceeds to buy assets in the United States ranging
from metals companies to commercial properties with the help of two American
associates based in Miami.
The Justice Department last year filed three civil
forfeiture lawsuits in a Florida court against a U.S. real estate holding
controlled by the two tycoons and run by the associates.
However, a judge agreed last week with a Justice Department
request to temporarily suspend the civil forfeiture proceedings amid concerns
it could harm the criminal investigation against the Ukrainian businessmen and
their two American partners.
“Allowing [the tycoons] to conduct discovery would expose
the identities of witnesses who have provided and will provide information and
testimony in both the civil forfeiture actions and the criminal investigation,”
the Justice Department said in its February 19 filing.
“If that occurs, the confidential informants may cease
providing information, and, to the extent they are not reachable through
process in the United States, they may make themselves unavailable for future
testimony. Potential sources of information who have not yet been interviewed
by the government would likely be deterred from coming forward.”
The tycoons deny the accusations and neither Ukraine nor the
United States has filed criminal charges against them.
Kolomoyskiy is one of the most influential tycoons in
Ukraine and the U.S. government’s investigation into his activities is being
closely followed.
The billionaire owns key media, energy, and metals assets
and is believed to have outsized influence over the administration of President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Kolomoyskiy’s TV stations backed Zelenskiy’s successful
presidential bid.
The United States, one of Ukraine’s biggest backers
financially and militarily, has repeatedly expressed concern about oligarchic
influence over the nation’s government and economy.
Washington has also complained about the lack of
investigations into corrupt tycoons and officials and has tied some aid to
improvements in judicial reform.
The arrest of Yatsenko, who was flying on a private plane
owned by Kolomoyskiy, is the latest in a series of moves by Kyiv to tackle
cases that resonate with the United States.
Zelenskiy last week approved sanctions on Viktor Medvedchuk,
a tycoon and lawmaker with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Medvedchuk was sanctioned by the United States in 2014 for undermining
democracy in Ukraine.
On February 2, Zelenskiy sanctioned three television
stations believed to be owned by Medvedchuk. In late January he announced an
investigation into Ukrainian individuals accused of interfering in the 2020
U.S. presidential elections.
The moves come after President Joe Biden was inaugurated on
January 20. Biden knows Ukraine well, having served as the point man to Kyiv
while serving as vice president from 2009 to 2017.
Political analysts say Zelenskiy is seeking to win over the
Biden administration after a difficult relationship with the Trump
administration caused by the 2019 impeachment investigation.
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