Criminal banking, even in the UAE: BES announces completion of special pre-trial investigation against Ibox Bank co-owner Alyona Shevtsova

Criminal banking, even in the UAE: BES announces completion of special pre-trial investigation against Ibox Bank co-owner Alyona Shevtsova

Authorities have finalized the pre-trial inquiry involving Alyona Shevtsova, co-owner of Ibox Bank, and her collaborators. The case materials are now available for examination by the suspects and their legal representatives before court proceedings begin.

This is officially announced by the Bureau of Economic Security to the individuals involved, who are wanted and notified by a special announcement on its website.  

Besides Shevtsova, Iryna Tsyhanok and Zoya Nesterovska are summoned to the Territorial Department of the BES in the Lviv region to receive notifications about the completion of the special pre-trial investigation and to familiarize themselves with the case materials.

Earlier, the investigation established that the suspects organized a money laundering scheme using "miscoding," which enabled the laundering of approximately 5 billion UAH for illegal online casinos. 

"During the pre-trial investigation, BES detectives reported suspicions to the bank’s high-ranking officials. The investigation materials regarding the organizer of the scheme and her two accomplices were separated into a separate criminal proceeding under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Article 203-2 ’Illegal activity related to organizing or conducting gambling, lotteries’ and Article 209 ’Legalization (laundering) of proceeds of crime’," stated the Bureau of Economic Security. 

Subsequently, the Lychakiv District Court in Lviv issued a ruling and allowed a special pre-trial investigation, which permits the continuation of procedural actions if the suspects are evading the investigation. Such a procedure is not often applied. According to statistics from the Prosecutor General’s Office, only 435 special investigations were initiated in January-February, while in general, the SSU, National Police, State Bureau of Investigation, and BES investigated over 1.5 million criminal cases during this period. Among the well-known figures in special pre-trial investigations are Medvedchuk, Derkach, Hranovskyi, Shevtsova, and other suspects of corruption, state treason, and representatives of the aggressor country’s authorities.