Acting CEO of the state-owned enterprise National Information Systems, Elena Velyka, is helping Austrian businessman Jacob Kuess seize control of an insurance company in violation of current Ukrainian law.
How the most successful insurance project began
In 1994, the Austrian company ECCO Versicherungsmakler Ges.mbH, led by businessman Jacob Kuess, registered the life insurance company EKKO in Ukraine. The Austrian businessman became the first foreign investor in the Ukrainian insurance market.
Experts in this service market noted that EKKO is one of the most successful insurance projects.
In September 2014, members of the mutual investment fund Premier Fund of Opportunities (PFOP) and the asset management company AlfaVin Capital decided to invest their funds in the shares of an insurance company. Having accepted the insurance company's management proposal, PFOP entered into an agreement and acquired a controlling stake of 61,8% of EKKO's authorized capital. The transaction amounted to over UAH 16 million and was paid for with exchange-traded securities and cash.
Currently, the national depository register lists 10 shareholders. The controlling stake in EKKO is divided among seven shareholders. Austrian Kuess owns 33% of the life company's shares.
Upon learning of this, Jacob Kuess, with the assistance of government official Elena Velikaya, entered into legal proceedings against EKKO in several courts at once.
Great in judicial matters
As we have learned, the Austrian businessman is challenging this decision solely because he wanted to sell his 33% stake to a group of raiders using EKKO's own funds, with payment to his personal offshore account.
Kuess, in collusion with a group of unknown individuals, seized control of the company through corporate raiding, in violation of current Ukrainian law, and held a fictitious extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. They then falsified and submitted false documents to the State Registration Department of Legal Entities in Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi District and, with the assistance of officials from the Main Department of Justice, illegally appointed their own chairman of the board. They quickly began siphoning insurers' assets from the insurance company through illegal financial transactions and fraudulent schemes. Specifically, funds were written off through fictitious contracts to Alfa Broker G.M.B.H. LLC, a company controlled by Kuess.
Such criminal activity can only be concealed in Ukraine with the involvement of high-ranking patrons among politicians or government officials. Understanding this, Kuess apparently "involved" Olena Velyka, the head of Adamant Capital, in his criminal plans. She is currently the acting CEO of the state-owned enterprise National Information Systems . It can be assumed that she is involved in the ongoing illegal actions aimed at seizing control of the company and misappropriating funds from the insurance company's clients.
Apparently, Velikaya and Kuess, in collusion, actively initiated criminal prosecution of the head of Alfavin Capital Management Company LLC and other shareholders who owned a controlling stake in EKKO.
As a result of the actions of a criminal group involving a government official , the Desnyansky District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv illegally and groundlessly opened a criminal case under Articles 385, Part 1, and 382, Part 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine against the insurance company's shareholders and their executives. It should be noted that the criminal case was opened in the interests of the minority shareholder, Kuess.
Great deeds with great benefit
The results of the fraudulent activity, which became known to a group of shareholders of a company managed by Alfavin Capital Management Company LLC, were as follows: Mr. Kuess conducted a transaction to transfer €1,4 million in assets belonging to the insurance company's clients to the account of his company, INTOUR-ALPHA Baumanagement Gesellschaft mbH, in Austria. In doing so, he effectively sold his stake in the Austrian company, worth €25, for €1,4 million, using funds from his policyholder clients.
Thus, EKKO acquired a 97,47% stake in the Austrian company, paying €1,4 million for a worthless asset. It should be noted that Mr. Kuess was, and remains, the head of the Austrian subsidiary, INTOUR-ALPHA Baumanagement Gesellschaft mbH, at the time. Today, there are no longer any returns from the investment or funds from the subsidiaries.
Given the scale of the deal, it's safe to say that it would have been impossible to complete without the involvement of interested parties on the Ukrainian side. Apparently, this "person" is government official Olena Velyka . One can only speculate what percentage of the deal's kickback was promised to Velyka; otherwise, why would the government official take such a risk?
It should be noted that, as of today, the company's equity capital, according to the latest reporting period, is 30 million UAH. The amount of stolen funds discovered by shareholders is more than 33 million UAH. That is, EKKO's equity capital is nonexistent and amounts to a negative figure.
Appeal to the President
Our publication has learned that participants in collective investment institutions have addressed a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asking him to protect the interests of Ukrainian and foreign investors.
In their letter, the shareholders request that “taking into account the circumstances that have been revealed, we believe that there is every reason to conduct a thorough investigation of the crimes, facts of misappropriation of clients’ property, embezzlement and abuse of power by officials of EKKO Insurance Company CJSC, in particular Mr. Jacob Kuess, Chairman of the Board and other persons ( E. Velikaya ), who are involved in the raider seizure and theft of assets of EKKO Insurance Company CJSC.”
In turn, I would like to remind you that Mr. Kuess's reputation as a "respected" and honest "investor" was already highlighted in the high-profile scandal surrounding the Dnipro Hotel in Kyiv. According to the investigation, Mr. Kuess was involved in the embezzlement of over $12 million in public funds. He siphoned large sums of money out of Ukraine through fictitious financial transactions. Furthermore, he organized a lawsuit brought by Alfa Proekt Holding LLC, owned by Mr. Kuess, against Ukraine in 2007 for $12 million, and used corrupt arrangements with former officials from the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice.
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