The arrest of opposition parliamentary candidate and financier Ruslan Demchak on money-laundering charges looks at first glance to be another example of mounting political repression ahead of Ukraine's parliamentary election.
But Demchak may have fallen victim to a government tax crackdown rather than electoral politics and, according to bne enquiries, his bad luck may be another man’s poetic justice.
Ukraine’s State Tax Service announced September 3 that they had arrested the 38-year-old financier Demchak, owner of mid-sized Ukrainian Business Group, RD Bank and insurance and healthcare assets, in a rare move to prosecute a well-connected businessman for financial offences.
