The bank's funds were withdrawn to the “offshore” of the Russian oligarch under the guise of paying royalties: over UAH 2 billion worth of trademarks was seized
This was reported in the Department of Strategic Investigations of the National Police of Ukraine.
According to SDR operatives together with law enforcement colleagues, a group of individuals through controlled Cypriot companies and a private bank in Ukraine — one of the five largest in terms of equity — organized a criminal “scheme” to withdraw the bank's assets under the guise of paying royalties for the use of trademarks. These trademarks were previously owned by the parent bank in the Russian Federation, and in 2021 they were re-registered to a Cypriot non-resident to take advantage of preferential taxation conditions. This offshore company, the Ukrainian bank and its parent bank in Russia are linked by the only beneficial owners, including a well-known Russian oligarch.
It was also found that for 3 years of using trademarks belonging to a financial institution of the Russian Federation, the Ukrainian bank paid 1.4 million UAH. After the re-registration of the rights to the same trademarks to the offshore company, the amount of the royalty rate for their use in Ukraine increased by more than 1200 times and amounted to 16.4 million dollars. USA. In less than a year of using these marks by a banking institution in Ukraine, more than UAH 248 million was paid to a non-resident of Cyprus. In order to prevent further withdrawal of funds in the framework of criminal proceedings for trademarks in the amount of more than UAH
2 billion, an arrest was imposed.
We remind you: earlier, within the framework of this criminal proceeding, the former chairman and acting chairman of the board of a private bank in Ukraine was informed of the suspicion under parts 2 and 3 of Art. 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. We are talking about the facts of intentional evasion of non-resident income tax totaling more than 18 million UAH. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing, it is carried out by detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
National Police of Ukraine
