Kyiv's Pechersk Court on Nov. 21 unfroze the bank accounts of Serhiy Arbuzov, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister and central bank governor under overthrown President Viktor Yanukovych, and Arbuzov's wife, Iryna Arbuzova. The bank accounts, arrested since May and August, respectively, were frozen again at the request of General Prosecutor's Office three days later, on Nov. 24.
Arbuzov is wanted by the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies for money embezzlement through the abuse of the office of a central bank governor in 2010-2012.
The ruling of the Pechersk court was justified by an alleged violation of the legal procedure in freezing the accounts in May, as Arbuzov wasn’t notified of being suspected
of any wrongdoing related to those accounts. The prosecutor’s office, however, is investigating the motives of Vyacheslav Pidpaly, a judge who issued the ruling.
However,
it remains unclear whether money stayed on accounts held at Oshchadbank and
Ukreximbank, two state-owned banking giants, as well as in Oleksandr
Yanukvych’s Vseukrayinsky Bank Rozvytku and Ukrbiznesbank, that is also
believed to be controlled by a millionaire son of ousted president Viktor
Yanukovych through the Donetsk-registered Realty Estate Group.
The Arbuzovs
had full access to their accounts in between Nov. 21 and Nov. 24.
Censor.net.ua, a local news website, reported citing the sources close to the
investigation process that there was as much as Hr 200 million, or $12 million,
deposited on them.
Moreover,
Censor.net.ua’s chief editor Yuriy Butusov says some of that money was taken
away, however he doesn’t explain where this information is coming from. At the same time, the deputy chief investigator of the prosecutor’s office, Svyatoslav Lahaniak, claimed that the funds on the accounts remained intact.
Lawyer
Oksana Dytynko of Ukrayinska Pravnycha Fundaciya, a legal service provider in
Kyiv, represents the Arbuzovs in this case. UPF is led by Igor Fomin, a
prominent local lawyer who gained popularity through defending legal rights of
the nation’s former president Leonid Kuchma and Yuriy Lutsenko, an incumbent leader
of Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc in parliament.
Arbuzov
left the country after the EuroMaidan Revolution overthrew the Yanukovych
regime in February. His whereabouts are unknown.
However,
Arbuzov has been spreading the press releases, critical to the incumbent
pro-Western government, among the media outlets allegedly controlled by his
circle – such as Capital
business daily and Forbes
Ukraine.
Whole
case with Arbuzovs’ accounts led to a public outrage. A rally took place on
Kyiv’s Independence Square, a home to EuroMaidan Revolution, on Nov. 30.
Protesters demanded to dismiss Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema, who is also
criticized for poor progress in investigating the murders of more than 100 anti-Yanukovych
protesters early this year.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Lyachynska can be
reached at [email protected].
