Scheme to illegally withdraw UAH 119 million from Sich Bank exposed
2 May 2024 13:13
As part of the criminal proceedings on the facts of tax evasion on a particularly large scale by Sich Bank, the State Audit Service of Ukraine has found out a scheme to withdraw UAH 119 million from this banking institution. This was reported by the State Audit Service, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
According to the materials of the proceedings, the defendants in the illegal financial transaction are former officials of Sich Bank, as well as five private enterprises and two individual entrepreneurs.
“During the inspection, it was found that the bank paid a fee of UAH 119 million to companies for services that they did not actually provide. After the fictitious services were paid for, these funds were withdrawn from the banking institution,”
– the State Audit Service said.
The case is currently being investigated by the Main Detective Unit of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine.
What we know about Sich Bank
Founded in 2011, Sich Bank was one of the few small financial institutions that survived the 2014-2016 bank run. The bank’s nominal owners, Oleg Balanda (55.6%) and Valeriy Razdorozhny (31%), were simultaneously the chairman and deputy chairman of the bank’s supervisory board, respectively.
In January 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine declared Sich Bank insolvent. The financial institution failed to fulfil its obligations to the NBU under refinancing loans within the contractual period due to insufficient funds.
on 10 August 2022, following the declaration of insolvency, a temporary administration was introduced at Bank Sich JSC.
On 10 October 2022, the bank’s liquidation procedure was launched for a period of three years.
“Sich is the second bank to be taken off the market since the start of the war. Megabank was the first to go bankrupt. In addition, at the end of February, the NBU liquidated two banks with Russian capital: Prominvestbank and MR Bank (formerly Sberbank).
