Former foreign ministry state secretary Bankov arrested in case involving theft of foreign donations

The High Anti-Corruption Court on August 3 arrested former State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleksandr Bankov, with a bail alternative set at 10 million hryvnias (EUR 195,000).

This was reported by the Anti-Corruption Action Center.

Bankov is suspected of organizing a scheme to misappropriate and siphon funds from foreign donors supporting Ukraine, totaling more than 37 million hryvnias. The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office had requested pre-trial detention with a possible bail of 15 million hryvnias — the court partially granted this motion. The defense insisted on house arrest, considering detention an excessive measure.

During the hearing, the prosecution noted that Bankov, both while in office and after his dismissal, had the ability to facilitate the departure of other individuals abroad. In particular, he repeatedly helped another suspect in the case — Reznikov — to travel abroad. After Reznikov was detained by military recruitment center (TCC) officers, it was Bankov who signed an official letter to the Rivne TCC stating that Reznikov was allegedly undergoing the procedure of being appointed as an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the prosecution, this helped the individual avoid mobilization.

According to the SAPO and NABU, Bankov acted as part of an organized group together with former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs apparatus Ramiz Ramazanov, chairman of the “Center for the Promotion of International Cooperation” Vladyslav Reznikov, and accountant Olena Kornitska. The group was created to misappropriate charitable funds. According to investigators, it was Bankov who gave the order to transfer approximately EUR 869,000 in two tranches of approximately EUR 434,000 each to the account of the controlled NGO “CPIC” from the accounts of the Ukrainian embassy in Japan.

During the court hearing it also became known that, in addition to the embassy in Japan, the American organization Renew Democracy Initiative was also affected — it had transferred 750,000 dollars to support Ukraine.

After the HACC ruling was handed down, the Azones law firm, which represents Bankov, stated that the SAPO’s accusations of misuse of funds “are merely assumptions unsupported by evidence.” The defense argues that at the start of the full-scale war there was no mechanism for accepting donations from donors and the relevant accounts had not been opened, and that the assessment of the investigative materials is selective in nature. According to the lawyers, NABU discovered money that the organized group allegedly seized. The defense intends to appeal the court’s decision to arrest their client.