Detectives of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine served a notice of suspicion to the person involved in the criminal proceedings for illegal actions with transfer documents, payment cards and other means of access to bank accounts, electronic money and legalisation of the proceeds of crime (Part 1 Art. 200, Part 1 Art. 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The case file was sent to court.

According to the investigation the suspect together with other individuals was engaged in electronic money transfers through russian payment systems banned in Ukraine and included in the sanctions list and exchanged them and cryptocurrencies for cash without the relevant permits of the National Bank.

For this purpose set up clandestine exchange offices and online exchangers through which conducted transactions for the exchange of cryptocurrencies, WebMoney and the russian ruble.

All exchange transactions were carried out without being reflected in accounting and tax records using forged transfer documents, payment cards, etc. In this way virtual assets were legalised including in the interests of the aggressor country's intelligence services.

The criminal proceedings have been sent to court with a plea agreement.

The operation was conducted by the officers of the SSU. Procedural guidance was provided by prosecutors of the Prosecutor General's Office.

ESBU and the SSU recently conducted searches at the residences of the owners of the exchange platforms in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne and Sumy.

As a result of 22 searches, funds in US dollars, euros, Polish zlotys, pounds sterling, Swiss francs, etc. were found and seized which in total equates to almost UAH 60 million, etc.

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The russian electronic payment system WebMoney was included in the sanctions list approved by the National Security and Defence Council.