Confused with the abduction: SBU detained the chairman of the board of Ukreximbank

The head of the board of Ukreximbank Alexander Gritsenko was detained as part of a criminal investigation. Earlier, Ukrainian media said that Gritsenko was allegedly abducted.

Direct channel, citing relatives of the banker, said that the man was walking with the child when he was seized by unidentified men and put in a black bus. It was noted that the Gritsenko family appealed to law enforcement agencies.

Later, a number of other publications reported that the head of Ukreximbank was not abducted, but detained by law enforcement agencies. This information was confirmed by the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

“There was no abduction of one of the members of the board of JSC“ Ukreximbank ”. He was detained by members of the Security Service of Ukraine on behalf of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, ”said SBU spokeswoman Yelena Gitlyanskaya.

She clarified that the detention of Hrytsenko took place as part of a criminal case under three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: the creation of a criminal organization (part 1 of article 255), the appropriation, embezzlement of property (part 5 of article 191) and the legalization of proceeds of crime (h 3 Art. 209).

“The detention took place exclusively within the framework of the current legislation. Currently, the detainee has been placed in a temporary detention center, ”the SBU representative emphasized.

It follows from the agency’s message on the official Facebook page that Gritsenko is suspected of “promoting the legalization of income obtained illegally by senior officials from the time of Yanukovych”.

“Abusing his official position, the detainee withdrew the property of one of the media holdings from under arrest,” the SBU explained. According to Ukrainian security officials, the detainee is guaranteed the right to defense and communicate with lawyers.

Later, information was confirmed that Gritsenko was detained in the presence of a child. Banker’s lawyer Denis Galansky told reporters that Gritsenko “was just taken into a minibus,” and the child was handed over to the concierge with a request to take him to where he lives.

“At that moment, the oldest child was with a music teacher in the apartment ... As I understand it, the youngest (child. - RT ) is generally underage, the oldest is 15 years old. No relatives, no one was home, ”RIA Novosti quoted Galan as saying.

The lawyer expressed the opinion that detention in this way is permissible only at the crime scene. He announced plans to file complaints with supervisory authorities.

“We will apply and serve. I believe that this is illegal detention, illegal imprisonment. And so, when he walked with a small child, this is a special cynicism for intimidation, ”the lawyer said.

Ukreximbank has existed since 1992. According to the National Bank of Ukraine for the past months of 2019, Ukreximbank is the third largest asset in the country. Gritsenko became chairman of the bank on August 1, 2014, replacing Vitaly Belous in this post. He, in turn, has held the post since the beginning of 2013.

The interlocutor of RT from the party "Fatherland" suggested that Gritsenko could tell the siloviki a lot about the actions of the previous leadership of the country.

“This is a state bank that could act on the orders of the country's top leadership. If Gritsenko speaks, he can tell a lot of interesting things about the environment of former president Petro Poroshenko. It was not known under what conditions their loans were granted to their companies, ”a party source said.

Theft from defense enterprises

In turn, lawyer and ex-adviser to the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych in 2011-2014, Andrey Portnov, said that Gritsenko was one of the participants in the theft of funds from Ukroboronprom along with the ex-head of the National Bank of Ukraine Valery Gontareva, who was dismissed from this post in March 2018 of the year. Later, they began to suspect her of aiding in capturing $ 6 million.

“It was through him (Gritsenko. - RT ) that Bogdan Corporation, owned by Poroshenko’s environment, received free installments and non-repayable loans,” Portnov claims in his Telegram channel.

A RT source at the NBU called the incident an “attack” on Gontareva’s supporters, noting that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine previously detained former deputy head of the National Bank Alexei Pisaruk.

“Now, another prosecutor Gontareva interested in the prosecutor. Obviously, they are now collecting information on Gontareva. The oligarch Igor Kolomoisky is fighting against her, who wants to return the nationalized PrivatBank, ”the source said.

In turn, in the office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, RT stated that Gritsenko was detained as part of an investigation into the possible withdrawal of funds from state banks in favor of the environment of ex-head of state Poroshenko.

The source claims that Zelensky gave sanctions to conduct one of the most resonant investigations into the theft of funds from defense enterprises and their withdrawal abroad.

“I think this is not the last detention. Ukrainians died in the war, and some businessmen earned money on this. There is no explanation for this, ”says a RT source at the office of the President of Ukraine.