13 December 2016, Tuesday, 18:39 53

PGO Initiating Criminal Proceedings Against Hontareva On Suspicion Of Manipulations With Assets Of Insolvent Banks

Prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's Office are initiating criminal proceedings against National Bank Governor Valeria Hontareva and Deposit Guarantee Fund managing director Kostiantyn Vorushylin on suspicion of manipulations, worth UAH 315 billion, with prices of assets of insolvent banks undergoing liquidation.

A source in the Prosecutor General's Office announced this to Ukrainian News.

According to the source, prosecutors suspect a crime described in article 364 of the Criminal Code (abuse of powers).

The source says Vladyslav Kutsenko, deputy head of a department at the Prosecutor General's Office, has sent a report for registration to the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations.

In the document Kutsenko reports about possible manipulation with prices of assets of insolvent banks.

The source does not specify which irregularities have been allegedly uncovered by the prosecutor.

In his comments for Ukrainian News Kutsenko confirmed this information. However, he refused to give more details in the interest of the investigation.

He says he counts on support from leaders of the Prosecutor General's Office in this issue.

Article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine envisages that reports trigger criminal proceedings and pre-trial investigation. Offenses described by section two of article 364 of the Criminal Code cause punishment in kind of imprisonment for from 3 to 6 years.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, NBU Governor Hontareva denies her involvement in withdrawal of assets from Ukraine by the former government.

Yuliya Tymoshenko, the leader of the Batkivschyna Party, has accused NBU Governor Hontareva and DGF managing director Vorushylin of scams with assets of insolvent banks.

Yuliya Tymoshenko says the true price of the assets of insolvent banks was UAH 448 billion, while they were appraised at UAH 99 billion during the transfer to the Deposit Guarantee Fund.

Yuliya Tymoshenko says Hontareva and Vorushylin want "to pocket" this UAH 350 billion.