KYIV – Ukraine’s ex-President Viktor Yanukovych allegedly laundered $4.2 million worth of bribes through a Swedish bank in 2011 disguised as book royalties, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported on February 27.
The fugitive politician shifted the alleged illicit gains in his first year in office through a Vega Holdings Limited account held at a Lithuanian branch of Swedbank, Sweden’s oldest bank.
The book for which Mr. Yanukovych purportedly received payment was called, “Ukraine – A Country of Opportunities.” Printed copies of it have yet to appear.
Ukrainian authorities believe Mr. Yanukovych, who abandoned office in 2014 amid a popular uprising against his increasingly corrupt and authoritarian rule, and his inner circle emptied $30 billion to $40 billion from state coffers during his truncated presidency.
“The most recent report by SVT, which the broadcaster says is based on thousands of pages of documents that link Swedbank to the $230 billion dirty money scandal engulfing Danske Bank A/S, appears to contradict previous statements by the Swedish lender,” Bloomberg reported. “Chief Executive Officer Birgitte Bonnesen had repeatedly denied any link to the Danske scandal, arguing that Swedbank is a local bank servicing local clients.”
Vega Holdings, the vehicle that was used to funnel the illicit gains, was also used by the former Ukrainian leader’s chief benefactor and the country’s richest billionaire – Rinat Akhmetov.
In spring of 2011, his Metinvest metals holding company sent $25 million in two separate installments to a Swedbank account in the British Virgin Islands also belonging to Vega Holdings, according to a February 27 report by Slidstvo.info, an investigative journalism website.
The money transfers were described as loans.
A spokesman for Mr. Akhmetov didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment. And another press officer, from his main holding company, System Capital Management, didn’t respond to a texted message and phone calls.
The $25 million was “used to legalize the book royalty” for Mr. Yanukovych, Slidstvo.info wrote, citing Ukrainian prosecutors.
A Kyiv court on January 24 convicted the ex-president in absentia of high treason, for which he was given a 13-year prison sentence because he had facilitated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014 with a written request to Russian President Vladimir Putin to send troops into the country.
As of February 19, prosecutors are investigating Mr. Yanukovych for eight other alleged crimes, including illicit enrichment and embezzlement, according to the watchdog group Anticorruption Action Center.