07/10/2021
On October 4, during an interview with Ie.V. Metsger, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC “Ukreximbank” to Radio Liberty, there were events that caused a wide public response. Ie.V. Metsger was both officially and practically suspended from his duties without pay. Two other employees of JSC “Ukreximbank”, who directly participated in that unfortunate incident, were also suspended from their duties without pay: Igor Telbizov, Head of the Banking Security Department, and Volodymyr Pikalov, Head of the Information Policy Department.
"Representatives of Ukreximbank management are convinced that a prompt, objective and impartial investigation by the competent authorities of the circumstances of the interview to Radio Liberty is in the interests of both Ukreximbank and the general public. We cooperate with law enforcement authorities and provide them with all the necessary information in order to assess the situation as soon as possible. In particular, tomorrow the prosecutor's office will carry out the relevant procedural actions at the Bank premises to help the investigation in comprehensive clarification of the circumstances and details of this unfortunate incident," said Olyana Gordiyenko, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of the Bank, during a press conference.
As it was revealed in the framework of the internal investigation of Ukreximbank, during an interview on October 4, journalists of the Schemes program expressed interest in issuing a loan by JSC “Ukreximbank” to a person who, according to the journalists, could be related to financing illegal and anti-government activities in the temporarily occupied territories in the East of Ukraine.
Commenting on this information during the press conference, Sergii Iermakov, Acting Chairman of the Management Board of JSC “Ukreximbank” said: "In April 2021, the Bank provided a loan of USD 60 million to “Wholesale Network 2011” LLC and “Slavian” LLC for a general project of USD 80 million for implementation of the agreement for Sky Mall purchase by S.G. Briukhovetskyi from the declared ultimate beneficiary of the business.
At the request of the Bank, the borrower provided legal opinions of professional lawyers, including a British lawyer registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority, on the settlement of corporate conflict and on existing lawsuits. According to the received legal opinions, the existence of an arbitration award in the case of Teder Hillar, the Estonian businessman, did not jeopardize the borrowers' ownership rights to the Sky Mall.
Sergii Iermakov also noted that before issuing the loan, the KYC procedure was applied to S.G. Briukhovetskyi, which revealed no information that would indicate the existence of any criminal cases in connection with the fact of owning the shares in companies registered in uncontrolled territories.
When making analysis of the client, it was also established that at the time of concluding the loan agreement, Mr. Briukhovetskyi had a valid certificate of registration of internally displaced persons.
"The funds under loan agreements were transferred either between accounts with Ukreximbank, or to the accounts of the borrowers with other Ukrainian banks, or to the counterparty's own account," Iermakov added.
