The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a criminal case on charges of issuing an obviously illegal ruling by judges of Kyiv's Appeals Court, who de-arrested a stake in PJSC National Bank for Development, or VBR, held by former president Viktor Yanukovych's son, Oleksandr.
The office’s media liaison department stressed that some media outlets reported false information that the arrest imposed by the Prosecutor General’s Office in April 2014 on Oleksandr Yanukovych’s sake in VBR is no longer effective.
On April 14, 2015, Kyiv’s Appeals Court partially satisfied an appeal by an authorized entity on behalf of the Deposit Guarantee Fund. Aiming to restore the bank’s financial position through its sale, Oleksandr Yanukovych’s stake in the bank, which is 100% of shares, was de-arrested.
“However, since the purpose of the arrest (confiscation of the accused person’s property under a court ruling and its return to the national budget) has not been achieved, the General Prosecutor’s Office demonstrated its principled position and instructed the State Service for Financial Monitoring of Ukraine to halt all operations with these shares. On the same day a judge from Kyiv’s Pechersky district court repeatedly arrest the shares to meet prosecutors’ request,” the source said.
“Simultaneously, [the prosecutors] will evaluate the work of Kyiv Appeals Court judges as part of a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings initiated by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine under Article 375 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on the fact of issuing an obviously illegal ruling,” the source said.
