Zhevago’s case will be investigated without him: the court’s decision
28 April 19:31
The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv has authorized a special pre-trial investigation into Konstantin Zhevago. The court granted permission for a so-called in absentia investigation in a case related to the activities of Bank Finance and Credit.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, Zhevago is suspected of embezzlement on a particularly large scale and money laundering.
“This concerns involvement in the embezzlement of the bank’s assets and the legalization of proceeds obtained by criminal means,” the prosecutor’s office stated.
What are the allegations?
Investigators believe that between 2007 and 2015, a scheme was organized to siphon funds out of the bank. According to this version, $113 million could have been illegally withdrawn from the financial institution, which at the time amounted to over 2.5 billion hryvnia.
According to law enforcement officials, the scheme worked as follows: the bank’s funds, held in accounts at foreign banks, were used as collateral for a loan to an offshore company linked to the suspect. After the loan obligations were not fulfilled, the money was written off.
A decision to launch a special investigation is made when the suspect is outside Ukraine or fails to appear for questioning.
Earlier, in March, Zhevago was served with a notice of suspicion in France.
“After the charges were served, he was questioned as a suspect,” law enforcement officials noted.
This is not the only criminal proceeding. In 2024, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court arrested the businessman in absentia in a case involving an alleged bribe at the Supreme Court.
Also, in 2025, he was notified of charges regarding the organization of the sale of Ukrainian medicines to the Russian market.
Who is Kostyantyn Zhevago
Konstantin Zhevago is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who was among the country’s wealthiest individuals.
According to the Chesno movement , Konstantin Zhevago is a former member of the Verkhovna Rada of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th convocations. He is a subject of anti-corruption investigations into tax and abuse of power.
In 2026, Zhevago was charged in France in a case involving the embezzlement of over half a billion hryvnias from the “Finance and Credit” bank, which belonged to the former MP himself.
In July 2025, law enforcement officials reported that they had uncovered a large-scale pharmaceutical scheme involving Zhevago, who organized the production and distribution of Ukrainian medicines on the territory of the Russian Federation.
According to the investigation, Zhevago personally oversaw the transfer of rights and production technologies from Ukrainian companies. As a result, a number of medical products under the trademarks of Ukrainian companies became officially registered in Russia.
In 2025, the National Security and Defense Council imposed personal sanctions against Zhevago. Thesesanctions included the revocation of state awards, the freezing of assets, and restrictions on trade and the transfer of capital out of Ukraine.
In 2023, Zhevago was implicated in the case involving the arrest of Supreme Court Chief Justice Vsevolod Knyazev. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) established that Knyazev had received a $3 million bribe from individuals who lobbied for a court ruling in favor of Konstantin Zhevago.
That same year, a Kyiv.Postinvestigative report found that the volume of Zhevago’s companies’ transactions with Russia between 2017 and 2022 exceeded 7.5 billion hryvnias. Although Zhevago himself has always denied doing business with Russia.
In 2022, Zhevago was detained in Courchevel, France, at the request of the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR). Subsequently, a local court issued an extradition arrest warrant for the businessman. Zhevago was notified of his status as a suspect in criminal offenses. However, the court hearings were frequently postponed, and after several months, Zhevago posted bail of one million euros and was released from custody. He is prohibited from leaving mainland France and must regularly report to the police station.
Additionally, the Economic Security Bureau opened a criminal case against Zhevago’s company, which is suspected of tax evasion amounting to 94.6 million hryvnias.
At the end of the year, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) conducted searches at enterprises linked to Zhevago. The reason was to verify information regarding Zhevago’s and other individuals under his control’s involvement in collaborationist activities (Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), specifically the operation of his enterprises in the interests of Russia.
In 2021, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for Kostyantyn Zhevago in connection with the embezzlement of $113 million.
That year, he was the third-richest Ukrainian according to Forbes.ua. His total net worth was $2.4 billion.
In 2019, he ran for the 9th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada in constituency No. 150 (Poltava Oblast) as an independent candidate, but lost.
Forbes magazine estimated Zhevago’s fortune at approximately $1.5 billion, making him the second-richest Ukrainian after Rinat Akhmetov.
That same year, the Financial and Credit Bank ( ) initiated criminal proceedings against Zhevago regarding his possible involvement in the embezzlement of 2.5 billion hryvnias. According to an audit by the Deposit Guarantee Fund, Zhevago and another top manager of the “Finance and Credit” bank issued several knowingly bad loans totaling nearly 5 billion hryvnias in order to embezzle the funds. A Kyiv court ruled to recover 1.5 billion hryvnias from Zhevago in favor of the National Bank of Ukraine.
At the end of the year, Zhevago was placed on an international wanted list due to his systematic failure to appear for questioning by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in a criminal case in which the businessman and politician was a suspect. A court decision on the compulsory recovery of funds also came into effect.
In addition, the SAPO notified Zhevago of suspicion regarding the inclusion of false information in his income declaration.
In 2014, he was elected as a People’s Deputy of the 8th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada from constituency No. 150 (Poltava Oblast) as an independent candidate, unaffiliated with any faction. He is a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy and Justice.
He was absent from plenary sessions and committee meetings in the 8th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada.
In 2012, he was elected a People’s Deputy of the 7th convocation as an independent candidate in constituency No. 150 and was non-affiliated.
From 2006 to 2012, he served as a People’s Deputy of the 5th and 6th convocations representing the “Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.” Both times, he was No. 62 on the list and was unaffiliated.
He owns 51% of the shares in Ferrexpo AG (a group of companies whose main assets are several iron ore producers in the Poltava region of Ukraine).
In 1998 and 2002, he was elected a People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the 3rd and 4th convocations in constituencies No. 149 and No. 150, respectively (Poltava Oblast). Both times, he was an independent candidate.
From 1996 to 1998, he served as chairman of the board of the “Finance and Credit” financial-industrial group, deputy chairman of the board of JSC “Poltava Mining and Processing Plant,” and a member of the supervisory board of JSC “Ukrnafta.” From 1993 to 1995, he served as the financial director of the closed joint-stock company “Finance and Credit.”
He is the owner of the “Vorskla” football club.
He graduated from the Kyiv National Economic University with a degree in “Accounting and Analysis of Foreign Economic Activity.” He holds a Ph.D. in Economics.
He was born on January 7, 1974, in the village of Iultyn, Russian Federation.
