“Court and the Ministry of Justice helped Russian Alfa-Bank withdraw $3 million from Ukraine despite Presidential sanctionsThe Kyiv Commercial Court and the Ministry of Justice facilitated the withdrawal of $3 million from Alfa-Bank through an offshore
company. Deputy Justice Minister Andriy Haichenko, a former employee of the bank’s structure, played a key role in the scheme.”, — write: unn.ua
Withdrawal scheme
In March 2024, the commercial court ruled to recover about $4 million from Alfa Bank in favor of Credit Initiatives LLC (case 910/161/51/23). On August 7, 2024, the court approved an installment plan until February 28, 2025. The founder of Credit Investments LLC is the Cyprus offshore company Chibeil Limited. As the journalists found out, this company is affiliated with Alfa-Bank and is managed by its management. Thus, instead of paying the nationalized bank’s funds to the state budget, the funds ended up on offshore accounts of the bank’s structures.
The role of the Ministry of Justice in the scheme
According to the sources, Andriy Haichenko and the vertical of state enforcement officers under his control in the Ministry played a key role in this scheme. In violation of the law, enforcement proceedings were opened under a court decision in the Obolon Department of the State Enforcement Service (№76148783, 76111629, 76032219, 75875334). Instead, such cases should be considered at the level of the central apparatus due to the significant amounts involved.
Through this scheme, instead of being recovered in favor of the Ukrainian budget, the funds were transferred to Alfa-Bank’s foreign accounts.
Alfa-Bank’s lawsuits against Ukraine
In addition to the bank’s ability to withdraw funds, its holding company ABH Holdings filed an international lawsuit against Ukraine for $1 billion over sanctions and nationalization. The Dutch company E.M.I.S., affiliated with Friedman, recently filed an additional $400 million claim.Notably, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for defending Ukraine in these disputes, although, as mentioned above, it is favoring the bank itself. The Ministry of Justice and Minister Olga Stefanishyna have refrained from commenting at this time.
Haichenko and ties to Alfa-Bank
An interesting fact: Andriy Haichenko was himself part of ABH Holdings, which is now suing Ukraine. In 2016, this holding was acquired by the Russian Alfa-Bank and the Ukrainian Ukrsotsbank, where Haichenko worked for 12 years (2005-2017).
Political and family aspect
“Alfa-Bank has been under sanctions since 2023, and its activities should have been under special state control. However, the Ministry of Justice actually helped to withdraw millions of dollars that could have been used to rebuild Ukraine.
This is not the only scandal related to Haichenko. His wife’s relatives: do business in Crimea; have Russian passports obtained in 2014; are members of the pro-Kremlin Patriots of Russia party.
Haichenko categorically denies having any such relatives, but the situation should be investigated by the SBU
Other scandals around the Ministry of Justice
Earlier, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that could have allowed companies affiliated with the Surkis brothers to recover $350 million from the nationalized PrivatBank. As noted above, enforcement of such decisions and the executive service are Andriy Haichenko’s competence, so he was again mentioned in the media as an accomplice in the withdrawal of public funds. (Source)
Conclusions
The Ministry of Justice, which was supposed to enforce the sanctions, actually facilitated the withdrawal of $3 million to Russian offshore companies. At the same time, the Ministry of Justice will now be responsible for defending Ukraine in international courts in disputes with Alfa-Bank. In general, the effectiveness of sanctions imposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy against Russians and structures that contribute to aggression against Ukraine, and the implementation of these sanctions by the Ministry of Justice, is currently being investigated by UNN for a separate article. According to public data, since 2022, sanctions have been imposed on 8,359 individuals and 6,582 legal entities.
Deputy Minister of Justice denies family ties in occupied Crimea, despite the facts in the Myrotvorets database21.02.25, 18:44 • 22092 views
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice has filed only 65 lawsuits with the HACC for asset recovery sanctions, which may indicate the critically low efficiency of Olga Stefanishyna’s ministry and the failure of the President’s sanitation policy.