Sergey Dyadechko
One of the co-founders of the failed Rodovid Bank, Sergei Dyadechko, developed a scheme to siphon depositors' money from the financial institution through the notorious Soyuz and Gefest banks. Incidentally, the former is suspected of sponsoring the "DPR" and "LPR" terrorist organizations in eastern Ukraine, while the latter is owned by a certain Igor Olegovich Kutitsky, previously unknown to the reader. Specifically, he owns Yasnaya Polyana LLC (EDRPOU 33671839, registered in Donetsk and previously located in Yalta), which in turn is one of the founders of Alliance Bank. Journalists from Vse.Media attempted to unravel the scheme used to siphon funds from the bankrupt Rodovid Bank, which was obtained by the editorial staff.
To clearly understand who's who, as they say, it's necessary to examine the background. Rodovid Bank OJSC is the legal successor to the Personal Computer Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (Perkombank), which became the State Bank of the USSR in November 1990 and was re-registered by the NBU in October 1991. The bank's founders were companies operating in the microelectronics sector. However, they are not currently shareholders.
Records of registration of the new version of the charter and the change of the bank's name to "Rodovid Bank" were entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs in September 2004.
Rodovid Bank suffered from the financial crisis, losing liquidity and the ability to serve clients, and in March 2009, a temporary administration was introduced at the bank.
In 2009, the government decided to capitalize the bank by the state and increased its capital by UAH 8,4 billion; the bank received another UAH 3,95 billion from the state in 2011 (a total of UAH 12,35 billion).
As a result of the capital increase, the state’s share in Rodovid Bank OJSC amounted to 99,9%.
Since 2011, Rodovid Bank OJSC has been operating as a rehabilitation bank in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine order dated September 14, 2011 No. 880-r, the NBU Board resolution dated December 23, 2011 No. 471 “On approval of the Regulation on the procedure for registering, issuing a license, regulating the activities of a rehabilitation bank and supervising it” and the rehabilitation bank license dated June 15, 2012 No. 1.
The loss of the insolvent Rodovid Bank in the first quarter of this year increased 4,3 times compared to the same period in 2015 - from UAH 51,5 million to UAH 221,7 million.
According to the financial statements, the bank's assets in the first quarter of 2016 decreased to 8,124 billion hryvnias, the loan portfolio to 19,1 million hryvnias, and capital to 3,007 billion hryvnias.
The volume of funds attracted by the bank from individuals in the first quarter increased by 7,8% to UAH 8,3 million, while funds from legal entities increased by 6,1% to UAH 104,4 million.
Over the course of five years, the institution has yet to become a fully-fledged rehabilitation bank, and none of the financiers or politicians have been punished for driving the bank into bankruptcy and causing damage to the state.
In recent years, the activities of Rodovid Bank OJSC have been linked to the notorious Serhiy Dyadechko, who served as the financial institution's vice president and was its co-founder. According to the publication, Mr. Dyadechko was appointed to this position by the notorious Yuriy (Yenakievsky) Ivanyushchenko, whose activities are directly linked to the Yanukovych family.
It's worth noting that before joining Rodovid Bank, Sergei Dyadechko was an unknown auditor at a small company. He held this position from March 2007 to April 2008. Then, as they say, things took off: his career took a dramatic leap—from auditor to vice president of the bank. This is hardly a coincidence...
These days, 38-year-old Mr. Dyadechko is better known as the sole owner of Soyuz Bank. This, incidentally, is quite interesting, since Rodovid Bank depositors' money was siphoned off thanks to Soyuz Bank. But more on that later.
Witnesses do not live long
When valiant law enforcement agencies began investigating Rodovid's financial fraud, several employees were arrested and confessed to siphoning money from the bank. By a strange coincidence, witnesses who knew about Dyadechko's schemes began dying at the same time. It's true, as they say: witnesses don't live long...
On October 28, 2011, a shocking event occurred in the Rodovid case: Gennady Piskun, a key witness in the investigation of financial fraud at Rodovid, jumped out of a window in Donetsk. Thus, the question of who should answer for this nationwide fraud and one of the largest financial pyramids in Eastern Europe remains open, as the number of people who can provide credible testimony in court has dwindled.
Sources close to the Main Investigative Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claim that Gennady Piskun committed suicide. They believe he was unable to bear the pangs of his conscience. It's worth noting that the experienced 43-year-old financier once went through the rigors of Donetsk business.
Whether the witness to the scam was killed or "assisted" remains unknown, but there is no doubt that the Rodovid case was the cause. It's worth remembering that Piskun was considered a key witness who could testify about the individuals and schemes that turned Rodovid Bank into a symbol of staggering state corruption.
In addition to direct cash withdrawals, Dyadechko also managed to bankrupt Rodovid by obtaining refinancing from the NBU. His bank received UAH 200 million in refinancing from the National Bank. The bank's management spent part of this money on legal services. Additionally, approximately UAH 5 million was spent on renovations to Rodovid Bank's head office, located at 17 Sahaidachnoho Street in Kyiv. After all, it's crucial to renovate the office of a bank teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, right?
The remaining funds from the financial institution were siphoned off to companies owned by former Party of Regions MP Oleksandr Shepelev , which served as a "gasket" between Rodovid and land in Obolon, a district of Kyiv. This was a form of compensation for Mr. Shepelev, who, having received it, successfully transferred the proceeds abroad, specifically to the United States and Cyprus. Incidentally, the 113 hectares of Obolon land, which are under arrest as part of the criminal case, are still keeping Rodovid Bank afloat, preventing it from completely collapsing. According to our information, this land originally belonged to Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, and now Serhiy Dyadechko, through his Cypriot law firm, is attempting to recover funds siphoned off to Cyprus, essentially trying to reclaim money that isn't his.
Obolon land
Currently, 113 hectares of Kyiv land are still held by Rodovid Bank at the price of the hryvnia loan. The current market value of this plot of land in one of Kyiv's prestigious districts is worth at least $1 billion. This explains the eagerness of NBU Governor Valeria Gontareva and former Head of the Presidential Administration Borys Lozhkin to snag this lucrative piece of land. What should happen? The following should happen: the head of the National Bank pays a paltry sum for the 113 hectares of land, buying it from Rodovid Bank (at the price of the loan taken out against it), and then sells it at auction at market value. According to the plan, the proceeds are to be divided between Ms. Gontareva and Mr. Lozhkin.
Bank "Soyuz"
During the collapse of Rodovid Bank, Soyuz Bank emerged. Interestingly, the co-founders of this new Ukrainian banking institution were the already well-known Sergey Dyadechko and the equally famous Yuriy Savitsky.
Soon after its birth, the Union accumulated considerable funds in its accounts, including 300 million hryvnias for the issuance of securities. Coincidence? Unlikely. After all, nothing simply disappears or appears out of nowhere.
After the Revolution of Dignity and the flight of the legitimate (former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych), new faces came to power, and the country's treasury was empty. Law enforcement officials went to great lengths to fervently search for Yanukovych and the "Family" money. Their search led them to Mr. Dyadechko's new bank, "Soyuz." Then everyone began talking about this financial institution's connection to the "Family." Later, during investigative operations, information also surfaced that "Soyuz" was financing terrorists in eastern Ukraine and protecting a currency conversion center.
Specifically, on March 16, 2015, SBU operatives finally managed to uncover a conversion center operating under the cover of the Kyiv-based Soyuz Bank. At the same time, law enforcement officials received information that a number of commercial entities, as well as individuals registered in militant-controlled territory, had open accounts at Soyuz Bank, which were actively transferring funds. Furthermore, the operatives uncovered a number of serious violations of banking discipline, such as failure to register cash at currency exchange offices (which were actually servicing the discovered "conversion center"), ignoring the requirements of the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine, and so on.
Despite all the information received by the SBU, the opening of a criminal case under the classification of "financing terrorism" and the "hype" surrounding Soyuz Bank, the institution continues to remain afloat.
Bank "Gefest"
During searches in the Union, investigators seized several banking institution servers containing information on the movement of funds. However, just a couple of hours after the seizure, a certain bank, "Gefest," announced its presence, claiming that the seized servers belonged to it and had no connection to the Union.
Moreover, Hephaestus' lawyers are filing a lawsuit demanding the return of the seized equipment, which essentially saved Soyuz. After all, only the bank's management and God know what skeletons are hidden in Soyuz's servers.
It is worth noting that the founder of the Gefest bank is Igor Kutetsky.
Thus, a direct connection between these two individuals can be traced. Our journalists will cover Mr. Kutetsky and the connection between Alliance Bank and Donetsk-based Yasnaya Polyana LLC in more detail in their next report, which is already being prepared for publication.
To be continued ...
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