Official: No politics in situation with liquidation of Basis Bank

There are no politics in the situation with the liquidation of Basis Bank, according to head of Kharkiv regional administration, Mykhailo Dobkin.

"There are no politics in the situation with the liquidation of Basis Bank – this is economics and a crime, crude theft," the press service of Kharkiv regional administration reported, citing Dobkin.

He said that financial problems of Basis Bank are linked to money laundering from its accounts, and many state and private companies in Kharkiv region suffered from this.

"This concens millions of dollars. The attempts of many heads to take funds away, when they saw in 2009 that the bank faced hard times, failed. At that moment when Avakov [former co-owner of the bank and former head of Kharkiv regional administration] left the country, there was nothing to take from the bank. A temporary administrator worked there, and everything came to the issue of using opportunities of finding foreign investors and cover the difference that was washed out from the bank's accounts by people against whom, I think, a criminal case is opened… No political situation stopped Avakov retaining the bank and warning at least state-run enterprises about the serious risks to funds that were placed on deposit," Dobkin said.

He also said he was sure that all talk of the political pursuit of Avakov will disappear with time.

As reported, on August 28, 2012, searches were conducted in the premises of Basis Bank (Kharkiv) under a ruling of the Kyivsky District Court of Kharkiv with a view to seizing documents.

The chief of the investigation department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's main office in Kharkiv region, Zinoviy Halavan, said that according to a ruling issued by the Kyivsky District Court, the investigation department is conducting searches in some places in Kharkiv. All this is related to the investigation of a criminal case that was opened on August 22 this year under Part 2, 5, Article 191 (large-scale misappropriation or embezzlement of property through abuse of office or by an organized group) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The case was opened against the officials of Basis Bank and individuals who received loans in collusion with them and stole funds, he said.

Arsen Avakov on his Facebook page said that Dobkin is behind the events surrounding Basis Bank.