The former head of the National Bank was declared an international search. Shevchenko himself called the process involved

The former head of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kyrylo Shevchenko was declared an international search in the case of embezzlement of over 200 million hryvnias from Ukrgasbank. He is currently in Vienna (Austria), according to his lawyer.

The search for Shevchenko became known during a session of the High Anti-Corruption Court HACC), at which a preventive measure was chosen for the suspect in absentia, the Anti-Corruption Center reports.

This was confirmed by the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutorʼs Office (SAPO).

The SAPO prosecutor stated in court that Shevchenko left Ukraine on September 20 with a business passport for a business trip to London, but he did not return to Ukraine and sent himself on vacation twice on his own (first until September 30, and then until October 7). The prosecutor claims that Shevchenko had to return to Ukraine, since his reservation as a conscript was removed from the moment of his release by the parliament.

The prosecutor stated that Shevchenko was evading the investigation and the court and ignored the summons for questioning on October 28. That is why he was declared an international wanted man.

Shevchenkoʼs lawyer stated that his client is in Vienna, where he was registered as a consular and rented an apartment, and the investigation knows his address. The lawyer requested to summon the client through the procedure of international legal assistance, but the court refused, because the procedure for choosing a preventive measure in absentia does not involve the participation of the suspect, and the defense did not provide evidence of the impossibility of Shevchenkoʼs arrival at the meeting for valid reasons.

Shevchenko himself called the court process involved on his Facebook.

According to him, the prosecutor is asking for detention without bail, but "strangely forgot to provide a copy" of this request and "10 volumes of appendices to his lawyer, which should precede the submission of such a document to the court."

It was possible to obtain these documents allegedly after the intervention of the court, but a day before the court session. The defense did not have time to study the materials in such a short period of time, and the court refused to give more time and allow Shevchenko to participate in the meeting via video conference.

• On October 4, the former head of the NBU Kyrylo Shevchenko resigned "for reasons related to health." The President approved this decision.
• Already on October 6, NABU declared Shevchenko the suspicion. The case concerns the period when he was the chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank. We are talking about the withdrawal scheme of 206 million hryvnias during 2014-2019. On the same day, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Shevchenko from the position of head of the National Bank, and replaced him with the former head of the Savings Bank Andrii Pyshnyi.
• On October 24, Shevchenko was declared wanted. Because of this, he called the case against him politicized.