The High Anti-Corruption Court sent former MFA Secretary Oleksandr Bankov into custody with a bail of 10 million UAH
On August 3, the High Anti-Corruption Court chose a preventive measure for the former Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleksandr Bankov. The court decided to detain him until September 30 with the alternative of posting bail in the amount of 10 million UAH.
The hearings regarding the preventive measure lasted several days — July 29 and 31, and the final court decision was made on August 3.
The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office requested the court to apply detention with bail of 15 million UAH for the former MFA official.
The defense requested a milder preventive measure and called the proposed bail amount "large."
On August 3, the High Anti-Corruption Court partially satisfied the prosecutor’s motion but reduced the bail amount by 5 million UAH — from 15 to 10 million UAH.
What the case is about
As previously reported by the "Judicial and Legal Newspaper", NABU and SAP reported the exposure of an organized criminal group, which, according to the investigation, was headed by the former Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Law enforcement agencies claim that the scheme participants embezzled funds from foreign citizens and donors intended to support Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, and later legalized them through conversion centers.
According to the investigation, the former MFA Secretary convinced international donors and subordinate employees of foreign diplomatic missions to direct financial aid to the bank account of a controlled public organization. According to expert conclusions, the funds received by this NGO legally had the status of targeted budget funds of the special fund of the MFA of Ukraine.
Subsequently, the funds were withdrawn to accounts of controlled individual entrepreneurs and legal entities, who then transferred them to conversion centers to convert into cash. The laundered money was used by the scheme participants for personal enrichment.
NABU indicates that to create the appearance of lawful activity of the public organization, the scheme participants fabricated fictitious letters and signed grant agreements containing false information.
Currently, the investigation has established the legalization of funds totaling over 37 million UAH (approximately 1.28 million USD at the time of the crime).
Among the suspects are:
- former MFA Secretary (2020-2024), organizer of the scheme;
- former head of the MFA Secretary’s office, current diplomatic employee;
- advisor to the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, head of the controlled NGO;
- NGO accountant.
It is known that the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine from 2020 to 2024 was Oleksandr Bankov.
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