Borys Tymonkin, the banker who managed the financial arm of Serhiy Kurchenko's oil and gas trading company Vetek, was arrested on June 14 at a Berlin airport, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany said.
Wanted on an international arrest warrant put out by Ukrainian authorities last year for allegedly defrauding the state of €281 million, Tymonkin “hasn’t asked the Ukrainian Embassy for assistance although it is his right to do so,” Kateryna Zelenko, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany, told the Kyiv Post by phone on June 18.
Allegations included in the international arrest warrant involve fraud, forgery, illicit circulation of money and appropriation of state assets.
Both Tymonkin and Kurchenko, also wanted by Ukrainian authorities for causing at least $670 million of damages, have denied any wrongdoing.
Tymonkin voluntarily left Ukraine in February 2014 to seek medical treatment in France. He promised to return, but never did. In June 2014, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry placed him on a wanted list. He had flown to Berlin from Istanbul when he was detained last week.
It was in connection to a criminal investigation into Kurchenko, widely believed to be a front man for deposed former President Viktor Yanukovych. Kurchenko’s wealth had skyrocketed to more than $2.4 billion in less than two years, according to Forbes estimates, during Yanukovych’s truncated presidency.
At its height, Vetek controlled up to 80 percent of the Ukrainian liquefied natural gas market, according to a June 17 report by German tabloid Bild. Kurchenko fled Ukraine in February 2014, presumably to Moscow, soon after Yanukovych relinquished power, also for Russia. Both have had their assets frozen by the European Union until March 6, 2016.
Tymonkin joined Vetek in July 2013, and in just six months, two banks affiliated with the conglomerate, Real Bank and Brokbiznesbank, were declared insolvent.
When he made the move, after heading top-10 bank Ukrsotsbank for 12 years, many in the finance and banking industry questioned Tymonkin’s decision. He ran the bank when billionaire Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of ex-President Leonid Kuchma, owned it. He remained CEO after Italy’s UniCredit Group Bank bought it in 2007 for an estimated $2.2 billion.
According to Forbes Ukraine, then owned by Kurchenko, he could’ve expected a “million-dollar package” of yearly income.
Tymonkin is now in custody in the east Germany town of Cottbus and officials are preparing his extradition, Reuters reported citing senior public prosecutor Juergen Suelldorf.
“However, the German government has yet to make a final decision on his extradition, a spokesman for Brandenburg’s state ministry of justice said,” Reuters reported.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
