French court postpones hearing of Kostyantyn Zhevago's case

The Espreso correspondent reported this following the results of the court session.

The judge made this decision at the request of the French prosecutor's office, which is studying the validity of the Ukrainian law enforcement agency's request to extradite Zhevago to Ukraine.

The businessman himself stated that he believes in an impartial and fair consideration of his case. Catalina De La Sota, the lawyer of Kostyantyn Zhevago, commenting on today's decision, said that the court of the city of Chambéry will act exclusively according to the law, abstracting from the political context.

Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation accuses Kostyantyn Zhevago of embezzling other people's funds. According to the conclusions of the investigators, in 2007-2014, the Finance and Credit bank acted as a guarantor for several loans to foreign banks. The companies that received these loans serviced them regularly, and the banks had no complaints. But in 2015, Ukraine's National Bank unexpectedly introduced a temporary administration to Finance and Credit. Because of this, foreign banks took a risk and forcibly wrote off funds from the Finance and Credit bank as a guarantor.

In this write-off of funds, the SBI accused Kostyantyn Zhevago, as the beneficial owner of the Finance and Credit bank. 

Lawyers note that the withdrawal of funds took place after the National Bank introduced a temporary administration. At that time, the management of the bank appointed by the shareholders was removed from the management of the bank, while Zhevago himself was not an official. Therefore, those who managed the bank at that time and should have prevented it, namely the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the temporary administration appointed by it, are responsible for the funds written off from the bank.

On January 5, one of the courts of France considered the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the and the State Bureau of Investigation to extradite the well-known Ukrainian businessman, politician and philanthropist Kostyantyn Zhevago to Ukraine. The court decided to schedule a detailed review of the application for January 19 and removed all restrictions from Zhevago after posting bail.