Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are investigating a criminal case involving Ukrinbank officials. The criminal case was opened for the illegal alienation (acquisition) of 15% of the bank's shares in 2010. These shares, with a par value of UAH 30,7 million, were fraudulently taken from two individuals—the bank's shareholders.
Back in April, several media outlets, at the instigation of the SBU, published a list of individuals and organizations sponsoring Donbas militants.
Ukrinbank (PJSC Ukrainian Innovation Bank) unexpectedly found itself among the sponsors of terrorism. Why unexpected? The bank's owners, in addition to banker Volodymyr Klymenko (who is also the chairman of the supervisory board), include former high-ranking government officials: a master of the Ukrainian banking system, a Hero of Ukraine, and the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine. Vladimir Stelmakh and the former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, General Mykola Gerasimenko. These are the people considered the bank's real owners, regardless of what's written in official documents. It would seem that over many years of holding such high positions, these people should have imbibed a sense of statehood. But it turns out things aren't so simple. A quick look into the bank's owners' biographies and their intricacies reveals that UkrInBank is quite capable of not only sponsoring but also committing any evil act. And with complete impunity.
Banker Vladimir Klimenko began his business career in the Sumy region as a trader in confiscated non-ferrous metals. His supplier was a local SBU officer, Nikolai Gerasimenko. Klimenko later entered the banking sector. While working at Brokbusinessbank, he met Vladimir Stelmakh, who was friends with the bank's owners and even headed the financial institution for a time.
A piquant anecdote from Klimenko's biography during his time at Brokbusinessbank has surfaced online. The bank was purchasing premises for its branch. The seller was asking 5 million hryvnias (at an exchange rate of 4,68), but after Klimenko agreed, the price suddenly jumped to 9,2 million hryvnias.
Vladimir Klimenko's next job was at AvtoKRAZBank, where, according to the NBU, he was a member of the supervisory board and owned 7,68% of the shares. The bank was then under intense scrutiny by the tax service, which discovered criminal activity in the transfer of approximately $875 million to a controlled Latvian bank. This was confirmed by the State Financial Monitoring Service, which reported to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) that it saw signs of money laundering in the bank's actions.
While Klimenko was exploring new frontiers in banking, Gerasimenko continued to follow the well-trodden path of trading in confiscated goods, fortunately, his position (head of the SBU Investigative Department) allowed him to expand as widely as possible.
In 2009, Klymenko and Gerasimenko's paths crossed again. This time, they decided to play big, not small. And they "took the bank." In the truest sense of the word. With the assistance of Volodymyr Stelmakh, who became the leading voice in this odious trio, they bought a controlling stake in the troubled UkrInBank for just 4 hryvnias! Even though an Israeli bank had offered $200 million for it, something went wrong. The NBU objected (a greeting from Stelmakh?), and the price, as we can see, plummeted, practically plunging into the ground. The details of this lucrative "purchase" were widely covered in the press, so there's no point in dwelling on them.
The new owners quickly replaced the bank's management, and, according to the press, by forging documents. Those who resisted were "squeezed out" in the usual way—through law enforcement, criminal cases, and document forgery. But a single controlling stake in the bank wasn't enough for the trio. They had to get rid of the other shareholders.
In early April 2010, two shareholders, holding 6% and 9% of Ukrinbank's shares, learned almost by accident that the regular general shareholders' meeting would be held in Zhytomyr on April 20. On the eve of the meeting, the shareholders' representatives contacted the bank to obtain information and documents, namely: the board's resolution on holding the meeting, the regulations on the supervisory board and audit commission, the shareholder register, the board chairman's report, and notices of the announcement. They also requested statements of their securities accounts.
None of this was provided to the shareholders' representatives. Furthermore, a bank employee, a certain Kalashnik, informed them that the bank no longer held these shareholders; their shares had been debited from the custodian account at Ukrbank.
Representatives of these shareholders were not allowed to participate in the general meeting on the grounds that such shareholders are not included in the register of holders of securities issued by PJSC Ukrinbank.
The shareholders were extremely surprised and outraged. Neither had sold their shares. It's worth noting that one of them had paid 18,4 million hryvnias for these shares, and the other 12,3 million hryvnias. So they could just steal over 30 million?
Both defrauded shareholders rushed to seek protection from law enforcement agencies, but to no avail; they were simply brushed aside. This is unsurprising, given the impressive composition of the new shareholders and the rampant corruption under Yanukovych. Incidentally, the bank would later pay the latter and his "family" handsomely for their protection: according to information published in some media outlets, during the height of the Maidan, cash was being smuggled into Ukrinbank by the carloads of money-grubbing government officials and other members of the "family." At the bank, these funds were transferred to third parties, ordinary bank clerks, and deposited into deposit accounts. Rumor has it that the bank helped members of the Yanukovych clan safely hide hundreds of millions.
But let's return to the crux of the matter. The shareholders tried to find out the truth both from the bank itself and from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ultimately, they were told that they had sold their shares themselves. Or rather, one of them had sold both his own shares and those of his partner.
The fact is that one of the shareholders, let's call him A., who held 6% of the bank's shares, issued a power of attorney to his business partner B. (the other shareholder, who held 9%), authorizing him to manage securities and buy and sell them on the stock exchange. B. found a brokerage company, Nafta-Invest CJSC, and drew up a brokerage agreement in his own name and on behalf of his partner. On February 25, 2010, as an addendum to the agreement, Application No. 1 was completed, according to which B. was to receive brokerage services from the broker for the sale of his shares. The application stated that it would take effect from the moment the client deposited the securities with the All-Ukrainian Securities Depository.
So, both partners were told that B. had deposited his own securities and those of the principal, after which the shares were written off from their accounts at UkrInBank. However, B. swore to his partner that he hadn't deposited anything; their shares had simply been stolen. Perhaps in another case, the principal would have suspected the partner of fraud, but here we are talking about friends and partners who had long been in business together and truly trusted each other. It's likely that those who actually stole the shares were hoping to get away with it by framing one of the shareholders and causing a rift between them.
Already in 2014, after the change of power, the defrauded shareholders of Ukrinbank again filed complaints with law enforcement agencies regarding the crime committed against them. Today, a criminal case has been opened and is being investigated regarding the illegal actions of Ukrinbank officials. The investigation succeeded in obtaining copies of the documents used to transfer shares belonging to individuals. Even at first glance, it is clear that the signatures on some of the documents related to the transfer of shares were forged. However, an expert examination is necessary to establish the truth. This will be conducted shortly.
Let's be honest, there have been several attempts to close these criminal cases. But the prosecutor's office has intervened, and the proceedings have been reopened. It looks like this time the investigation will finally be thorough and comprehensive, and things are about to get really heated at Ukrinbank.
Incidentally, the bank's former majority shareholder, who received only 4 hryvnias for his shares (quite generous, considering the aforementioned individuals received nothing at all), still hopes to get his money back.
Ukrinbank's problems don't end there. A scandal erupted between the bank and the state-owned enterprise "Enterprise for Providing Oil Products" of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy. For six months, the state-owned enterprise was unable to access its own funds (30 million hryvnias!) in bank accounts. The bank was forced to go to court. This is just one episode that characterizes the bank's attitude toward its clients.
Furthermore, PJSC Fidobank openly stated that Ukrinbank cannot repay its interbank loans. Fidobank is resolute. Ukrinbank is facing bankruptcy. This has actually happened more than once, and each time, refinancing from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), obtained thanks to Volodymyr Stelmakh, has saved the situation. But this time, the NBU will likely not help. Ukrinbank has become too "visible," too odious.
Nevertheless, Ukrinbank has no intention of "dying." It is already making loud statements about the possibility of merging with other banks. However, the presence of criminal cases, and potentially a lawsuit over the return of shares and challenges to shareholder meetings (these individuals owned over 10% of the shares, a significant stake), will negatively impact the merger process. What sensible financial institution would risk merging its capital with a bank that is experiencing a corporate conflict and could potentially face a future shareholder change by court order?
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