Arkada Bank executives to stand trial: they face up to 12 years in prison
31 October 05:19Former executives of Arkada Bank will be tried in Kyiv on charges of embezzling UAH 480 million. This was reported by the Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office, Komersant Ukrainian reports
The Podil District Prosecutor’s Office of Kyiv has sent an indictment to the court against the former chairmen of the board of Arkada Bank. Konstantin Palyvoda and Tatiana Kovalchuk, as well as their deputy, are accused of misappropriation of funds from the bank’s depositors (Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
According to the investigation, in 2014-2020, Arkada Joint Stock Commercial Bank was the manager of three funds – two pension funds and a children’s fund – with about 25 thousand individuals as depositors. Customers invested about UAH 480 million in these funds.
The defendants, with the aim of seizing these funds in the amount of UAH 480 million, used them to purchase bonds of an enterprise whose beneficial owner was the chairman of the bank’s board himself.
The purchased bonds were not redeemed, which caused losses of UAH 480 million to depositors represented by the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
The sanction of the article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 12 years with confiscation of property.
Reference
Arkada Bank was established in 1993. According to the NBU, as of June 1, 2020, the bank’s significant shareholder was Konstantin Palyvoda (total shareholding of 74.797%).
According to the National Bank, as of August 1, 2020, Arkada Bank ranked 45th (UAH 1.88 billion) among 75 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets.
The NBU declared Arkada Bank insolvent in August 2020. The Guarantee Fund completed its liquidation in July 2024.