Boris Kaufman
The title somewhat conveys the essence of the lawsuit filed in the Primorsky District Court of Odessa against PJSC Finbank, its recent owner, B.R. Kaufman, Chairman of the Board, K.V. Smolsky, and Head of Branch 12, E.V. Golovina. Given that Finbank ceased payments to depositors on October 23, 2014, we offer our readers a descriptive portion of the lawsuit in the form of a visual aid, which may help some of them formalize their claims.
*** “On August 16, 2014, the term of deposit agreement No. 012781/112, which was concluded with me on July 12, 2013, by Golovina A.V., Head of Branch No. 12 of Finbank, expired. In accordance with paragraph 3.1.3 of this Agreement, on August 18, 2014, the refundable foreign currency deposit and the interest accrued on it were credited to my current account No. 26207010051313. In violation of Part 1 of Article 1067 of the Civil Code, this current account was opened without concluding an agreement with me on the procedure for using the funds received from it. According to branch manager A.V. Golovina, this was unnecessary, as the terms of the agreement cannot deviate from current legislation, which is as follows: According to Part 3 of Article 1068 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, "the bank is obligated, upon the client's instruction, to issue or transfer funds from their account on the day the bank receives the corresponding payment document, unless another period is provided for by the bank account agreement or law." The law provides for the only restriction on the client's rights to dispose of funds in their account—a corresponding court decision, which does not exist in this case. Resolution No. 540 of the NBU Board dated August 29, 2014, imposed restrictions on the issuance of cash by banks: "from a current account in foreign currency—in an amount equivalent to no more than 15000 hryvnias." However, the said Resolution came into force on September 2, 2014. Thus, as of August 16, 2014, when Finbank, according to the submitted application, was supposed to issue me a foreign currency deposit in full and the 10,5% accrued on it, there were no legal obstacles to this. From August 18, 2014 to October 23, 2014, Finbank made payments from time to time in an arbitrary amount, which were stopped on October 23, 2014, when, as is clear from the attached statement, there remained $ 4804,89 in my current account (see Appendix 2). On October 24, 2014, a note was posted on the banki.ua website, "Does Platinum Bank Management Know About the Merger with Finbank?", in which the situation that became the subject of the claim is described as follows:
"As of October 22, 2014, Finbank ceased issuing deposits. A.V. Golovina, head of its Odessa branch No. 12, verbally stated that all Finbank assets, including depositors' current accounts, had been transferred to Platinum Bank's balance sheet in accordance with the merger agreement. She declined to provide a written explanation, citing banking secrecy and the confidentiality of the transaction. Please confirm or deny the information about the merger with Finbank, and also inform us when deposits will begin to be issued under Finbank's agreements, which expired in July-August of this year."
As far as I know, there is no agreement on the merger of the said banks. According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, "On November 15, 2013, a group of financial investors closely associated with Boris Kaufman purchased 100% of the shares of Platinum Bank." On the other hand, it is known that it was Platinum Bank that on October 1, 2014, acquired the shares of Finbank owned by Boris Kaufman (16,0134%), his partner Alexander Granovsky (9,2062%), Vertex United LLC, which they controlled (49,7163%), as well as their wives Elena Granovskaya (1,4008%) and Anna Kaufman (0,0484%). The veracity of this information is confirmed by data published on the Finbank website. In June of this year. A number of domestic media outlets published an article in the “Crime” section entitled “Kaufman and Granovsky continue to finance the “family,” which reported that after the speech of MP Sergei Mishchenko, who accused Finbank and Platinum Bank of “financing separatists,” the SBU and the Ministry of Revenue and Duties conducted an investigation, during which "27 transactions totaling $6,5 billion from Ukraine to offshore zones were identified. These two banks carried them out in 2013-2014…"
The author of the publication claims that as a result of these “transactions” organized by the Kaufman-Granovsky group, PJSC Finbank and Platinum Bank occupy the top positions in the ranking of the most unprofitable banks in Ukraine, with a combined deficit of over $60 million. Following the media revelations, an official statement was posted on Finbank's website in which its management denied involvement in "financing separatists," but did not dispute the actual "transactions" involving the withdrawal of funds entrusted to Finbank. Given that these "transactions" resulted in the disappearance of depositors' funds, including the $4805 deposited in my current account No. 26207010051313, I have the right to assert that a crime has been committed under Part 2 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (appropriation of depositors' funds through abuse of office by Finbank's management).
Boris Kaufman
I believe the following persons were involved in the theft of my money: Kaufman B.R., who until September 25, 2014 was the actual owner of Finbank and the head of its Supervisory Board; Chairman of the Management Board of Finbank Smolsky K.V.; and Head of Branch No. 12 Golovina A.V. Over the past three months, I have repeatedly contacted them with inquiries asking them to inform me of the deadline for the return of my money. The letters, copies of which are attached, were registered by the head of the organizational department of Finbank Zoteeva E.V. (phone 300180) and submitted for consideration to the Chairman of the Management Board Smolsky K.V. However, according to her information, no response was received. In violation of the Law of Ukraine on Citizens' Appeals, Smolsky K.V. prefers to remain silent. Make an appointment with him or his deputies Drebot D.I. and Sveshnikova M.S. The Finbank receptionist (phone 300-100) refuses, claiming they are all located outside of Odessa. So I got the impression that, having stolen the depositors' money, the entire Finbank management went on the run.
It's not easy to remain the personal banker of the "family" today...
Clause 5.4 of the expired deposit agreement stipulates that "if the parties fail to reach an agreement through negotiations within one month, such dispute shall be referred to court." However, under current legislation, no dispute is possible in principle. Article 41 of the Constitution of Ukraine guarantees a citizen's right to dispose of their property. According to Part 2 of Article 1066 and Article 1073 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, "the bank has the right to use funds in the client's account, guaranteeing the client the right to freely dispose of these funds." "In the event of a violation of a client's instructions regarding the withdrawal or transfer of funds from his account, the bank must pay interest and compensate for any damages caused."
In this case, Finbank and its officials have been illegally using my foreign currency funds for three months, which were supposed to be returned on August 16.08.16, 3. The amount credited to my current account was initially demanded in full, as that's how much the operation my only son needs costs. Over the past three months, retail prices have risen, while the dollar exchange rate has remained unchanged. Therefore, the direct losses caused to me by Finbank amount to approximately 20%. As for the emotional damage, this stems from the fact that for three months I was forced to go to Finbank branch No. 12 every day and stand in line for about an hour, only to be told yet again that the money hadn't arrived. At my age, such an irrational waste of my time is especially painful. Not to mention the moral humiliation of the procedure itself, which negatively impacted my well-being and overall health...
*** This is the picture that emerges. It concludes with the victim's request to the Primorsky District Court to collect jointly and severally from Finbank, as well as from Mrs. Kaufman B.R., Mrs. Smolsky K.V., and Mrs. Golovina E.V., his hard-earned $4805, and compensation for moral damages in the amount of $381,5. Furthermore, the plaintiff requests the court issue special orders to the management of the National Bank of Ukraine and the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals, obliging them to conduct an audit of Finbank.
I confess, this entire prose poem surprised me quite a bit. In my mind, paying a poor old man his paltry $4800 was no more difficult for the Odessan rich men Kaufman and Granovsky than wetting their fingers somewhere in the bushes.
Naturally, as part of my journalistic investigation into this matter, I attempted to interview Kaufman himself and the other individuals named in the lawsuit. Unfortunately, I can attest that none of them are accessible to mere mortals, including those who carry a press ID.
The only pleasant exception is E.V. Golovina, head of Branch No. 12, who is still at work and is forced to deal with both irate creditors and journalists. But what can she do if, unlike Kaufman, she doesn't have security? The conversation with Elena Valeryevna was quite amusing. She immediately refuted the plaintiff's claim that his hard-earned savings in evergreen currency had been stolen. She claimed nothing of the sort—all 4804 dollars and 89 pence remain in his checking account, as stated in the statement, which she certified with her signature and the wet stamp of Branch No. 12.
"And why," I asked, "are you refusing to pay them?" "What do you mean? There's a war going on in the country, so there's no cash in the bank, and there can't be! If the plaintiff, who's already reached an advanced age, doesn't understand this, then you shouldn't encourage his foolishness, but rather help him understand what's happening... Look here," she pulled a piece of paper from a folder, which, upon examination, turned out to be the ill-fated contract No. 012781/112 the plaintiff had been referring to, "it states here, in black and white, that military action, terrorist attacks, and other force majeure circumstances make it impossible to fulfill our obligations to our clients..."
"And where in Odessa did you observe military action? And no terrorist attacks that would impede Finbank's normal operations have been recorded here yet. Therefore, we will not discuss force majeure circumstances until you notify clients in writing, as stipulated by the Banking Law. For now, no force majeure has been observed. The deposit agreement expired on August 16th, and the client wishes to receive their dollars in the same cash form in which they were deposited with the bank a year and a half ago..."
"I can't give out what I have. We only pay clients up to the amounts allocated by Finbank management. Since October 24th, no further payments have been received from the head office. Therefore, I was forced to inform clients that payments have ceased..." "And how do you plan to resolve this problem?"
And then it turned out that, in E.V.'s opinion, there was no problem at all. Most clients who had been unable to withdraw their deposits from Finbank had agreed to three-month deposit agreements with Platinum Bank, where the virtual funds from their current accounts were transferred. And those who didn't agree to this optimal option should only have themselves to blame... As for the question of how Platinum Bank will return these "virtual deposits" in three months, which aren't backed by real money, Elena Valeryevna doesn't care at all. Let Platinum Bank's owners and investors worry about that. Then again, in these troubled times, three months is a long time. As the medieval sage who hired himself out to teach a donkey human speech used to say, something is bound to happen in three months—either the padishah dies, or the donkey croaks...
In any case, the debts Boris Kaufman accumulated at Finbank will be paid off by depositors at Platinum Bank, which, oddly enough, currently ranks first in the "public trust" ratings...
Kaufman's personal security: "If we see a sparrow, we get the gun ready..."
Russian Odessa
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