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The banker confirmed in court that the Panamanian company Restwood Products Corporation belongs to him, the National Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine reports.
The man who helped the notorious judge Artur Emelyanov (Read more: Artur Yemelyanov: A Yanukovych-era raider judge still in business) a well-known banker, the owner of the Soyuz bank, and previously a co-owner of the Rodovid bank, managed to avoid the seizure of 300 million hryvnias in an account in a Liechtenstein bank Sergey Dyadechko.
Dyadechko confirmed in court that he owned the Panamanian company Restwood Products Corporation, whose account at Liechten Steinische Landes-Bank AG, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, was controlled by Judge Yemelyanova's ex-wife, Svetlana. Kyiv's Pechersky District Court ruled that the Prosecutor General's Office lacked sufficient evidence that Svetlana Yemelyanova had controlled these funds and rejected the motion to seize them.
The petition filed by the Prosecutor General's Office states: "There are sufficient grounds to believe that in early April 2015, Dyadechko S.V., in prior conspiracy with Yemelyanov A.S., in order to conceal and disguise the illegal origin of funds previously obtained by Yemelyanov A.S. through criminal means, granted Yemelyanov's wife A.S., Yemelyanova S., the right to manage the account of the said company No. LI3108800546868502001 in the banking institution of the Principality of Liechtenstein - Liechten Steinische Landes-Bank AG, the balance of which is 13,13 million Swiss francs (approximately 300 million UAH)."
The Prosecutor General's Office's petition was rejected by the investigating judge of the Pechersk Court, R.V. Novak, on June 23, 2016.
Previously, media reported that in 2015, Liechtenstein's financial intelligence service discovered accounts belonging to the Panamanian company Restwood Products Corporation. According to Ukrainian investigators, Judge Artur Yemelyanov's ex-wife, Svetlana Yemelyanova, held a power of attorney that allowed her to manage the funds in this bank account. In August 2015, investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine established that the funds were derived from money laundering, and the accounts were frozen.
In January 2016, the Kyiv Court of Appeals initially lifted the freeze on Restwood Products Corporation's accounts, citing insufficient evidence provided by the Prosecutor General's Office. Then, in March 2016, a private individual emerged claiming to be the true and sole owner of the Panamanian company and its bank accounts in the Principality of Liechtenstein. This individual, according to a court ruling published by the publication, was banker Serhiy Dyadechko.
As a reminder, media outlets have called Artur Yemelyanov, a judge of the Supreme Commercial Court of Ukraine, a co-author of the Yanukovych-era judicial system. The publication of his 2014 asset declaration, which revealed he owned 13 apartments and two houses with a total area of over 2 square meters, as well as two land shares of one hectare each (with an annual salary of 261 hryvnias), received widespread publicity. The declaration was subsequently amended, and Artur Yemelyanov now owns only one apartment. Media outlets link this to the judge's divorce (which journalists suspect was fictitious) and the possible transfer of most of his property to his ex-wife.
Read more: Artur Yemelyanov: A Yanukovych-era raider judge still in business
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