In Germany, law enforcement officers detained a former people’s deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 8th convocation, who was wanted by the State Bureau of Investigation for laundering funds obtained through criminal means, reports the State Bureau of Investigation.
Sources in law enforcement agencies previously reported that the former deputy from the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” faction Ruslan Demchak.
As noted by the State Bureau of Investigation, the former People’s Deputy was declared in 2023 on suspicion of facilitating manipulation on the stock market and legalization of property obtained by criminal means.
“According to the investigation, the People’s Deputy, holding the position of Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Financial Policy and Banking, in prior collusion with the directors of two private enterprises, acted as an accomplice in manipulating government bonds on the stock exchange. Such actions led to the defendant receiving illegal investment profit in the amount of UAH 20 million, which was not taxed by law, the department reports.
The State Bureau of Investigation adds that together with his accomplices, the ex-deputy carried out financial transactions with funds of criminal origin and tried to hide their origin on a large scale – the legalization concerned more than UAH 1 billion from stock market fraud.
“The criminals legalized criminal income from manipulations with the purchase and sale of bonds of the domestic state loan of Ukraine. Thanks to this, they managed to receive payment of investment profit, which is not subject to taxation. The persons involved in the scheme received these funds through a controlled bank (Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine),” the SBI specifies.
In addition, the former parliamentarian is charged with aiding and abetting manipulation of the stock market (Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 222-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). After fleeing abroad, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv allowed a special pre-trial investigation against him. It is planned that the indictment will be sent to the court in February after the end of the period for familiarization with the case, which is set until February 10 inclusive.
The SBI specifies that the extradition of the former deputy from Germany to Ukraine in a simplified procedure may take approximately three months.
