Supreme Court overturns the unlawful decisions adopted by the Bureau of Economic Security against IBOX Bank
On 12 March, the Bureau of Economic Security (abbreviated – BES) announced that it was requesting a special investigation into the case of the owner of IBOX Bank. On 13 March, Judge Volodymyr Marmash will consider this motion in the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv, kp.ua reports.
The defence believes that the BES detectives and Judge Marmash violate Ukrainian law.
The BES detectives are seeking to reopen the case against the owner of IBOX BANK, even though on 5 December 2024, the Supreme Court settled the issue once and for all in the criminal case against her and cancelled the illegal decisions made by the detective of the BES Territorial Office in the Lviv Region, thereby confirming the illegality of the prosecution’s actions in the said proceedings.
The defence of the accused believes that the BES detectives and Judge Marmash, by accepting such a motion for consideration, grossly violate Ukrainian law. After all, the deadline for pretrial investigation in the criminal proceedings against the owner of IBOX BANK has been exceeded by 3 months, which is unacceptable in cases of this category.
Thus, the defence emphasises that the BES’s attempts to reopen the case against the Bank’s management are accompanied by numerous violations of the criminal procedure. ‘The prosecution is pursuing its selfish interests, which are not related to a legitimate investigation aimed at identifying the real criminals,’ the defence comments.
Earlier, it was reported that it was the Lychakivskyi District Court that considers many cases initiated by the BES and the State Bureau of Investigation (abbreviated – SBI). It was suspected that such cases may be ordered, and their consideration may be managed in a ‘manual mode’ in order to blackmail the accused. It is noted that if such offences are found by the investigator and judge, the penalty may be up to 10 years in prison. If future investigations reveal signs of corruption offences in the actions of these individuals, the penalty may be significantly increased with the mandatory confiscation of property acquired due to such ‘legal’ activities.
As a reminder, it is the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv that has been considering the criminal case against the traitor Viktor Medvedchuk for more than two years. And the Presiding Judge of this Court, Mr Hryhorii Zhovnir, ensured that the case was heard in camera, thus listening to Medvedchuk’s lawyers.
Previously, IBOX BANK—whose liquidation was decided by the National Bank of Ukraine—had already refuted the information that appeared in the media, claiming that three top managers of the bank were allegedly notified of suspicion for money laundering and illegal organization of gambling activities.
IBOX BANK operated in the Ukrainian financial market from 1993 to 2023. Already by the end of 2021, the National Bank of Ukraine named IBOX BANK one of the most profitable banks in Ukraine.
International journalists and organizations are keeping an eye on the IBOX BANK case and are expecting objective justice.
At the same time, the BEB conceals the fact that back in 2023, the court had already examined the validity of the suspicion and multiple motions by the prosecution. After thoroughly reviewing the case, the court fully rejected the unfounded request for detention, which was not based on any credible evidence. This is clearly outlined in the ruling dated November 1, 2023, No. 757/43288/23-k by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. The legality of that decision was later confirmed by the Kyiv Court of Appeal, which held over 20 hearings from November 2023 to August 2024 and ultimately closed the appellate proceedings by its ruling on August 20, 2024 .