The NABU and the SAPO threaten to imprison a financier Bohdan Fedorushchenko, whose arrest was previously announced, demanding from him to testify against Kyrylo Shevchenko, a former Head of the NABU.
This was reported by Serhii Liamets in his blog on the Ukrainian News website.
"In order to imprison Shevchenko, the NABU/SAPO officers are looking for someone to testify against him. The scheme has long been known among the security forces. They find a person, threaten with imprisonment, but at the same time offer a cooperation agreement in exchange for the necessary testimony. Such a person was found in the case of the NBU ex-Head. His name is Bohdan Fedorushchenko, a professional financier. Right in the courtroom, Judge Movchan decided to take him into custody, with a possible bail of UAH 6.4 mln. Further, the Prosecutor offered the detainee to choose: testify or be imprisoned," writes the journalist.
In his opinion, judging by the NABU wording about the alleged embezzlement in Ukrgazbank, they do not understand the essence of the matter. Serhii Liamets explained that the financial market has developed a constant practice of attracting VIP clients by banks, whose loyalty is a subject of high competition. Agents, at their own discretion, negotiate with such clients, guaranteeing them favorable conditions, and in case of success, they receive their agency fee.
“In Ukraine, there is the only (I emphasize) way to interest a large company to become a bank’s client. How the agent negotiates with the client is his professional business, not the bank’s. It is these special conditions that are discussed in the case of Kyrylo Shevchenko,” writes Serhii Liamets.
The journalist notes that Fedorushchenko, who was unfairly called a ‘fictitious agent’ by the NABU, is a professional financier, a member of the Supervisory Board of Marfin Bank, who worked with a number of large clients under the ‘partner program’ (Ukrspetsexport, Ukroboronprom, Neftegaz, Ukrzaliznytsia and others). Now, Liamets believes, the investigators will put pressure on him, using his family and reputation.
"Four children, probably not a big fortune, you have to earn money. Accordingly, the prospect of imprisonment (according to the Prosecutor) is terrible ... Testimony in the Shevchenko case will end Fedorushchenko's professional career. Because he will do the worst thing for a banker by divulging the secret of his client", claims the journalist.
In his opinion, the Ukrgazbank case contains elements of political persecution, used to force Shevchenko to step down as the NBU Head.
“It seems that the NABU and the SAPO are doing everything what the security forces usually do. At the same time, the Shevchenko case turned into a political one long time ago. One thing is to investigate the Ukrgaz partner program since 2016, and the other thing is to ‘put the case into a drawer’ and activate it on receiving a command ‘from above’ in order to force Shevchenko to resign from the position of the NBU Head. Then to start repressions against the people from his NBU, Ukrgaz and partly Ukrexim teams, and introduction of ‘Oschad bank practices’, etc. Therefore, do not be surprised if the episode with Fedorushchenko will develop in a strange way," concludes the journalist.