Law enforcers in Poland detain Alona Shevtsova's accomplice, Iryna Tsyhanok, who is wanted in the ESBU case of UAH 5bn miscoding

In Poland, law enforcement officers detained Iryna Tsyhanok, director of one of the departments of JSC IBOX BANK. The woman was put on the international wanted list in the case of ESBU on UAH 5 billion miscoding. In particular, she and Alona Shevtsova are suspected of committing crimes under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 203-2, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The issue of extradition of Tsyhanok, who had been hiding from the pre-trial investigation for a long time, is currently being resolved.

Earlier, detectives of the ESBU established that the suspects, including the bank's shareholders, organised a scheme to legalise the funds of illegal casinos using miscoding. To implement the scheme, more than 20 controlled companies were set up and opened accounts with IBOX BANK.

Online casino players transferred money to the details of the above-mentioned companies to fund their gaming accounts. At the same time, they indicated payment for non-existent goods and services in the purpose of payment.

Based on the evidence collected, the ESBU detectives served a notice of suspicion to the bank's senior officials, including its co-owner. The materials of the criminal proceedings against Alona Shevtsova, a shareholder of IBOX BANK, and her two accomplices were separated into a separate criminal proceeding under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Article 203-2 ‘Illegal activities in organising or conducting gambling, lotteries’ and Article 209 ‘Legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime’. They were put on the wanted list.

Since the suspects were hiding abroad, the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv decided to initiate a special pre-trial investigation. It has now been completed. The case file is open for review by the defence. After that, the criminal proceedings will be sent to court.

At the same time, within the framework of international cooperation, the competent authorities of the Republic of Poland informed the Ukrainian side that one of the suspects had already been detained. It is Irina Tsyhanok. Measures to establish the whereabouts of the other defendants in the case are ongoing.

Note: In accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal punishment until his or her guilt is proved in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of guilt.