What does Vladimir Krotyuk, the right hand of Arbuzov’s occupant’s accomplice, do in the Clearing House bank?
Although nine years have passed since the flight of Yanukovych, the figures of that glorious time are still found in Ukraine and from time to time emerge in the most interesting places and no less interesting configurations, writes Anticorrosive.
Meet “Bank Clearing House”. It would seem – an ordinary bank of an average hand.
What does Vladimir Krotyuk, the right hand of Arbuzov’s occupant’s accomplice, do in the Clearing House bank?
Nothing special. But here is the composition of its Supervisory Board:
Among the members of the Supervisory Board, the surname Krotyuk Vladimir Leonidovich modestly flaunts. With the no less modest title of “Member of the Supervisory Board.” But he is a very remarkable person, and it is not for nothing that he is listed in the Clearing House in the Supervisory Board.
The bank itself is nothing special, if you do not know the fact that this is an ordinary washing bank, which belongs to the sister of the former head of the presidential administration of Kuchma, Yulia Lyovochkina, on a par with Dmitry Firtash’s junior business partner, Ivan Fursin.
What does Vladimir Krotyuk, the right hand of Arbuzov’s occupant’s accomplice, do in the Clearing House bank?
As you know, Ivan Fursin brought the Kyiv “Misto-bank” to bankruptcy, where he was the main shareholder. “Misto-Bank” was mainly engaged in withdrawing money from Firtash, Levochkin and the company abroad. According to the law, Fursin cannot be a bank shareholder, but the new head of the NBU, Andrey Pyshny, turns a blind eye to such trifles.
This is about the bank. And now let’s move on to the person of Krotyuk, thanks to whom, it seems, the Clearing House is still afloat. Volodymyr Krotyuk is a native of the Prosecutor General’s Office, who in 1994 went to work at the National Bank of Ukraine.
Where he was engaged in banking supervision, financial monitoring and legal management, and from 2000 until his retirement in 2014 he was the Deputy Head of the NBU.
In fact, he was engaged in the fact that he served the schemes of his bosses. Recall that the peak of Krotyuk’s career at the National Bank coincided with the period when the regulator was headed by Sergei Arbuzov, who replaced the no less odious Stelmakh at this post. And during the tenure of these two heads, Vladimir Krotyuk worked most actively.
Why he was allowed to quietly retire, and not fired in disgrace, is a mystery. Because back in early 2014, when Arbuzov fled after Yanukovych, and upheavals began in the NBU, as well as throughout the country, a serious scandal broke out in connection with the appointment of the first deputy head of the NBU Krotyuk, which was made by Stepan Kubiv.
Documents surfaced highlighting schemes to withdraw $6.5 billion from Ukraine, in which Arbuzov’s deputy Vladimir Krotyuk was implicated. Money withdrawal operations were carried out in 2013-2014 by two banks controlled by Odessa businessman Boris Kaufman – Finbank PJSC and Platinum Bank PJSC.
The source of financial resources withdrawn abroad was state money directed to the implementation of budget programs. The companies involved in these transactions are mostly registered at two addresses in buildings owned by Boris Kaufman in the city of Odessa.
MP Sergei Mishchenko accused Finbank and Platinum Bank of financing the separatists. Mishchenko appealed to the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Revenue and Duties with a demand to check the possible involvement of these banks in financing separatist movements in Ukraine.
“This scheme operated with the participation of officials of the National Bank of Ukraine during the rule of Viktor Yanukovych and Sergei Arbuzov. At the moment, of the persons involved in this scheme, only the former deputy of Sergei Arbuzov, Vladimir Krotyuk, is in office. Stepan Kubiv (former head of the NBU) appointed Krotyuk to the post of first deputy head of the NBU. Now, together with foreign colleagues, the further movement of these funds is being checked, whether they were used to finance separatist and terrorist activities in the south-east of Ukraine”, the Ministry of Revenue and Duties said at the time.
It is not known how the check ended, but Gontareva, who replaced Kubiv as head of the NBU, quickly got rid of Krotyuk, sending him into retirement. Why they decided to hush up the scandal is unknown. How unknown is the fate of MP Mishchenko’s appeal to the SBU with a request to check the involvement of Vladimir Krotyuk in financing pro-Russian militants in the L/DPR.
As for Finbank and Platinum Bank, having lost access to budgetary funds and patronage in the NBU, they quickly went to the bottom and were liquidated.
But Vladimir Krotyuk himself did not disappear after retiring – he surfaced in the bank of Levochkin-Firtash, which during the time of Yanukovych were favored by the system. However, times are different now. No matter how people from Yanukovych’s entourage rise up in anticipation of revenge in 2019, 2022 has confused all the cards.
As wrote economic expert Alexei Komakha, Clearing House Bank, seems to have exhausted all its resources and will soon go to the bottom. But for now, it is supported by Krotyuk, respected in the NBU, and sponsorship money from Levochkin-Firtash, which Krotyuk knows how to properly transfer to Pyshny.”
