Ukreximbank Ex-Deputy Chairman Oleksandr Ihnatenko may be released from liability in the Ukrgasbank case in exchange for testimony against former Ukrgasbank CEO and former NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko.
This was reported by blogger and former editor of Ekonomichna Pravda Serhii Liamets in his column on Ukrainski Novyny.
According to the journalist, Ihnatenko was offered a deal with the investigation, which he accepted. This happened after the case of Ukrgasbank was reclassified from "financial abuse" to "creation of a criminal group."
"According to my information, he was offered a deal with the investigation. He has to pay UAH 40-50 million to the Armed Forces and he will be released under Article 367, "official negligence," which has already expired," noted Serhii Liamets.
The journalist reports that the court's decision remained open for several hours after it was issued, and then it was removed from the public domain: "This violated the presumption of innocence and harmed other participants in the process, and also put psychological pressure on all of them. I think that was the goal. It was a signal to the other witnesses to start telling what the investigation needed. In the end, their fate is not important, because the main goal is to "persecute" the former Head of the NBU Shevchenko," the journalist believes.
Serhii Liamets recalls that Oleksandr Ihnatenko worked with Shevchenko at Ukrgasbank and was allegedly recommended for the position of deputy chairman by people from the inner circle of the then high-ranking officials.
"Ihnatenko has a rather spotty reputation in financial circles. At one time, it was said that he was employed by shady businessman Mykhailo Beilin, with the assistance of the then head of the Presidential Administration, Borys Lozhkin. He and Beilin were considered friends... From Ukrgasbank, he moved to Ukreximbank, where he became Deputy Chairman for Corporate Business. Whether his business was successful is evidenced by the fact that he used his banker's salary to buy a Bentley Continental GT from former MP Ihor Kotvitskyi," writes Serhii Liamets.
The journalist notes that Oleksandr Ihnatenko's name was also mentioned in the NABU case against businessman Volodymyr Halantynik, whose companies may have been involved in the issuance of loans to Ihnatenko. According to Liamets, this case was the main argument for influencing Ihnatenko: "They say they made him (Ihnatenko) provide evidence because of the Bentley, his friendship with Beilin, and, among other things, a loan to the "respected" Odesa resident Volodymyr Halanternyk...The former head of Ukreximbank, Yevhen Metzher, ordered journalists to be beaten and their cameras taken away precisely because of the issue of a loan secured by the Kyiv Sky Mall. In fact, this is Ihnatenko's loan... I think that Ihnatenko had to give up precisely due to the witnesses' testimony in Halanternyk’s case. He may have even "slandered" in the Odesa case, because usually if a witness has already started to "slander," they use that to the fullest. Or perhaps he agreed to testify against Shevchenko to avoid problems elsewhere," the author suggests.
According to the journalist, the main goal of the investigation is to obtain a high-profile verdict in this case, as it is "special" for law enforcement: "The goal is not just to fire him (it has already been done), but to obtain a resounding verdict. This is the biggest political case of our time," summarizes Serhii Liamets.