The French court rejected Ukraineʼs request to extradite ex-National Deputy Konstantin Zhevaho

The French court rejected the Ukrainian sideʼs request to extradite a former deputy of parliament and a shareholder of the Finance and Credit bank Kostyantyn Zhevaho.

Reuters writes about this with reference to the statement of his lawyers.

A number of Ukrainian mass media, citing correspondents, write that the decision was made by the court of the city of Chambery. Zhevaho, through his defense attorneys, said that the courtʼs ruling confirms the absence of grounds for his extradition and proves the groundlessness of the accusations made by Ukraine. He considers the case against him to be "political" and "PR" for law enforcement agencies.

His lawyers claim that over the past four years, the businessman has repeatedly applied and continues to apply to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO) with a proposal to testify and start an objective investigation, but, according to Zhevaho, the law enforcement officers do not show any interest in this.

• On December 28, 2022, Konstantyn Zhevaho was detained at the ski resort of Courchevel in the French Alps and the next day he was sent under extradition arrest.
• On January 10, 2023, Konstantin Zhevaho posted a million-euro bail and was released from custody with an obligation not to leave mainland France.
• The court has already seized the shares of Konstantyn Zhevahoʼs enterprises worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias, the corporate rights of companies, and 26 real estate objects. The property of other companies connected to Zhevaho was also seized, including 14 property complexes, 21 shares in property complexes, 30 non-residential premises, and 10 apartments.
• In Ukraine, Zhevaho is suspected of embezzling $113 million from the "Finance and Credit" bank, as a result of which the interests of the state and the bankʼs depositors suffered. During 2007-2014, the offshore company opened credit lines in foreign banks. "Finance and Credit" guaranteed this company with its own funds and concluded contracts with other foreign banks for more than $113 million (2.9 billion hryvnias). In 2015, foreign banks charged $113 million from the accounts of the "Finance and Credit" bank due to default by the offshore company, and the collateral was written off immediately after the bank was declared insolvent.