Owner and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of National Credit Bank Andrey Onistrat He withdrew client funds totaling over $25 million to personal accounts at Bank Frick and Co Aktiengesellschaft (Liechtenstein). The account is currently empty. This indicates that Onistrat withdrew the funds, according to a statement filed by an authorized representative of the Deposit Guarantee Fund with the Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. A copy of the document is in the editorial office's possession.
"During the investigation, it was discovered that officials of PJSC Bank National Credit, namely the bank's owner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, A.A. Onistrat, in a preliminary agreement with other Bank officials, developed and implemented a scheme to illegally siphon off the bank's assets," said Vitaliy Palamarchuk, a representative of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, according to Politica-UA.com.
According to the information presented in the statement, on the date the National Credit was placed under temporary administration, bank managers transferred $25,5 million to Bank Frick and Co Aktiengesellschaft. Documents confirming these transfers were retained by the bank, but Onistrat concealed the existence of these funds from the National Bank of Ukraine, and they were not reflected in mandatory reporting.
When representatives of the bank's temporary administration tried to return the money from the account at Bank Frick and Co Aktiengesellschaft, it turned out that it was not there.
The temporary administrator sent inquiries to Bank Frick, to which he received a rather strange response: "The message indicated that on an unspecified date, by order of the Head of the Supervisory Board, A.A. Onistrat, in prior agreement with other Bank officials, a fictitious loan agreement was possibly signed for an unknown amount, no less than USD 25,470,670.73, for an unknown period to the bank," a representative of the Deposit Guarantee Fund quotes the response from Bank Frick.
The National Credit Bank itself retained documents about the transfer of money to Liechtenstein, but there were no documents confirming the transfer of these funds as collateral.
But another interesting detail came to light. Many Ukrainian banks use Bank Frick & Co Aktiengesellschaft to open correspondent accounts, but these accounts are owned directly by the banks. But Onistrat took an unusual approach: he designated himself as the beneficiary of Natscredit's correspondent account at Bank Frick & Co, allowing him to personally manage the bank's and clients' funds without any approval from the bank.
After the temporary administration of National Credit was installed, Onistrat claimed in numerous interviews that the bank collapsed due to attacks from business competitors and restrictions on its operations imposed by the National Bank. The banker actively cultivated the image of a sufferer and a "knight without fear or reproach" who fought for the bank and attempted to restore its solvency.
But investigators have a different version of events. It was Onistrat's cash-withdrawal operations that undermined the bank's solvency: "Through his actions, which included sole control of the correspondent account, Onistrat caused losses of $25,470,670.73. ... Financial losses of this magnitude significantly impacted the bank's financial standing and deprive the bank of the ability to use the corresponding funds to satisfy the claims of the bank's depositors and other creditors," reads the statement filed with the Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
In an interview after the bank's collapse, Onistrat declared that he would "never work in a bank again." In fact, he no longer needs to work. The $25 million stolen from clients through a Liechtenstein shell company could easily support him.
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