I am most interested in quick and fair justice, - Kostyantyn Zhevago

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

The SBI accused Kostyantyn Zhevago, as the beneficial owner of Finance and Credit Bank, of this write-off.

Lawyers note that the write-off of funds took place after the National Bank introduced a temporary administration. At that time, the bank's management appointed by the shareholders was removed from the actual management of the bank, while Zhevago himself was not an official. Therefore, those managing the bank at that time should have prevented it, namely the Deposit Guarantee Fund and the temporary appointed administration should bear responsibility for the funds written off from the bank.

Kostyantyn, what is your assessment of the investigation of the case?

Of course, my assessment is negative, all deadlines are violated. How can a case be investigated for 5, 7 years or even 3 years? I am simply deprived of access to justice - I have carefully appealed to the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor General's Office 15 times, that is, every month, asking them to take my testimony and start investigating. This case actually brings a lot of negative PR, negative business PR, because people do not understand whether I am really guilty or not.  Therefore, I want to bring the case either to closure or to trial as soon as possible. Neither the SBI nor the Prosecutor's Office are interested in this. I ask to hold a video conference with me at the consulate either in Switzerland, or in the UK, or in France. This is all a legal procedure for me to testify.

Obviously, certain people working in the Prosecutor General's Office or the State Bureau of Investigation are aimed at arresting you. If so, who can benefit from it?

Today, it is beneficial for the Office of the President, because they have a program of deoligarchization, which they are trying to sell to Ukrainians. I was called an oligarch, although I am not, I am a big and successful entrepreneur who creates thousands of jobs. And all this did not happen over the last 3 years, it took me the last 25 years. I don't consider myself an oligarch, because no one can tell that I have anything to do with the state, that I ever headed ministries or departments, etc. All this does not stand up to any criticism either in Ukraine or abroad. Yes, I made an IPO (initial public offering of shares of a private company - ed.) in London; yes, I built other foreign companies, successfully operating in Europe, the USA, and Ukraine…Why on earth am I called an oligarch? Once again, it is very beneficial for the Office of the President, which gives commands to both the SBI and the Prosecutor's Office, as well as has influence on the Pechersk court. We perceive it in the same way as some ordered courts in Moscow or in former dictatorships. I see PR interest in all this in the Office of the President. In addition, as far as I know, there is an interest in some of my assets in Ukraine, which are arrested by the same Pechersk and other courts at the request of the SBI. There are interested parties who want to take away my property in Ukraine, which I am proud of. I would like all my assets and property to continue to work for Ukraine and Ukrainians.

The law on deoligarchization provides five points on how to define oligarchs and at least three of those points must coincide. That's right, you do not fall under these points. Now it is easy to identify an oligarch - to compare the points. However, people tend to use this word far too often in Ukraine, so the question is - do you see any connection between this criminal case and your political activities?

Of course, I do. I was a people's deputy from one constituency and was elected for 21 years in a row. It was not easy for me, being 24 to be elected as the youngest MP, and for 21 years I worked as a deputy of the very region where I was developing industry, creating jobs and making people richer.

In 2019, the Verkhovna Rada was dissolved and on the very day I registered as a candidate for the next convocation, the State Bureau of Investigation opened a case against me. It is already 2023 now, and the case is still not being investigated. Unfortunately, my direct explanations are not accepted and will not be, because no one is interested in the investigation. Everyone is interested in PR actions, reports, etc., but in fact no one wants to bring it to court or close it. Does all this have political implications? Surely, it does. Of course, I criticized the "Servants of the People" deputies for what they did wrong, both during the election campaign and afterwards. We understand how this political force was elected to the parliament, having received the vast majority of votes. Afterwards the party created its own legislative field. I supported laws that were good, because they are necessary for our society and industry. The populist laws, those unnecessary for the country, I did not support, because I do not understand why to experiment with Ukraine. We need to adopt the laws that are already working in societies that should be a model for us - in the United States, Japan, Australia. How can we want to live like there, adopting laws they don't have. This is what I criticized, being a pragmatic person. When any political force is criticized, it does not always tolerate the criticism. And you and I saw a political force coming to power and winning so many votes, and then its rating dropped sharply (before the full-scale invasion), then it means it did something wrong, and instead of populist laws, it should have introduced such laws for people to live well, honestly and with a perspective for themselves.

I have criticized and will criticize any political force if it does something bad for our country. I am proud to be a Ukrainian and have no other passport. I want us to have laws like in the USA and Europe, so that people live freely, democratically and prosperously.

Do you have some insight into how this case will go on? On January 19, a court hearing is to be held in France, what do you expect from it?

I am expecting this hearing. After that, depending on the decision, according to the law, there will be an appeal - either from my defense or from the other side. I see that the decision will be made, in fact, within a few months and, accordingly, I, as a law-abiding person, will comply with the court decision. I believe that the judicial system in such civilized countries is democratic, and I have no reason not to comply with the court decision. Certainly, the decisions of the Pechersk court in Kyiv and other courts influenced by the Office of the President cannot be executed. And this was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights. When I looked at the statistics for 2021, I saw that the largest number of applications to the European Court came from Ukraine. The court itself says that the Ukrainian judicial system is unjust in many cases. The court considered 192 cases in 2021 and recognized that this is a systemic problem of Ukrainian justice.

As for the further development of this case, I still hope that the SBI and the Prosecutor General's Office will listen to me and follow the law. The case should be closed and they should admit to having incorrectly carried with me.

However, if the Prosecutor's Office believes that they have a case and they will bring it to the end, then there is no question - let's take it to court as soon as possible, go through the first instance, the second and reach the Supreme Court, where I hope justice still resides.

What is the role of your business and you, as a Forbes businessman, in helping Ukraine and contributing to the victory?

Of course, the most important issue for me is to win the war. We need the war to end and people to stop dying. We need to rebuild our country and develop a society where foreigners would like to live. Victory is our main goal. I teamed up with my colleagues, are doing everything to accelerate this victory. What do we do in particular? First of all, we work in difficult conditions, we give people the opportunity to have a job and receive a salary, paying taxes to local budgets, where teachers' salaries, for example, come from. It is easier to close an enterprise, and it is more difficult to keep it afloat and give people the opportunity to live in the conditions of war. In my understanding, there is a military front and an economic front. It is very important for the economic one to work.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, our companies have allocated more than UAH 1 billion for military and humanitarian aid. We do not shut down and do not intend to reduce any of our humanitarian projects. For example, at the request of Kharkiv city authorities, we financed the production and delivery of more than a million food packages for people who need such support the most. The total cost of production, assembly and delivery is over UAH 110 million. 

Our soldiers received armored ambulances of high cross-country ability, ATVs, quadcopters, communications, office equipment and other equipment necessary at the front. We delivered a modern armored special vehicle for the State Emergency Service. We sent ordinary and armored ambulances, as well as transport means for many Ukrainian cities. We delivered food, medicines and medical equipment, transferred financial assistance to Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava, Kyiv, Kharkiv and many other regions. Mykolaiv was supplied with technological equipment to provide residents with drinking water. We also delivered fuel, building materials, office electronics, generators, protective equipment and other humanitarian goods to all regions of Ukraine.

We help wherever we can help. This is my responsibility, the responsibility of all work teams at the enterprises, shareholders, because our society needs as much help as our military.