On 12 March, the Bureau of Economic Security (BES) announced its request for a special investigation into the case involving the owner of IBOX Bank. Kp.ua reports, Judge Volodymyr Marmash is set to review this motion on 13 March in the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv.
The defence argues that both the BES detectives and Judge Marmash are acting in violation of Ukrainian law. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling on 5 December 2024, which definitively resolved the criminal case against the bank’s owner and annulled the unlawful decisions made by BES detectives in Lviv, the BES is now attempting to reopen the case. This ruling had confirmed that the prosecution’s actions in the case were unlawful.
The defence maintains that by considering this motion, the BES and Judge Marmash are committing a serious breach of the law. They highlight that the pretrial investigation period for the case has already exceeded the legal limit by three months, making any further proceedings improper for this type of case.
Thus, the defence emphasises that the BES’s attempts to reopen the case against the Bank’s management are accompanied by numerous violations of the criminal procedure. ‘The prosecution is pursuing its selfish interests, which are not related to a legitimate investigation aimed at identifying the real criminals,’ the defence comments.
Earlier, it was reported that it was the Lychakivskyi District Court that considers many cases initiated by the BES and the State Bureau of Investigation (abbreviated – SBI). It was suspected that such cases may be ordered, and their consideration may be managed in a ‘manual mode’ in order to blackmail the accused. It is noted that if such offences are found by the investigator and judge, the penalty may be up to 10 years in prison. If future investigations reveal signs of corruption offences in the actions of these individuals, the penalty may be significantly increased with the mandatory confiscation of property acquired due to such ‘legal’ activities.
As a reminder, it is the Lychakivskyi District Court of Lviv that has been considering the criminal case against the traitor Viktor Medvedchuk for more than two years. And the Presiding Judge of this Court, Mr Hryhorii Zhovnir, ensured that the case was heard in camera, thus listening to Medvedchuk’s lawyers.
Previously, IBOX BANK—whose liquidation was decided by the National Bank of Ukraine—had already refuted the information that appeared in the media, claiming that three top managers of the bank were allegedly notified of suspicion for money laundering and illegal organization of gambling activities.
IBOX BANK operated in the Ukrainian financial market from 1993 to 2023. Already by the end of 2021, the National Bank of Ukraine named IBOX BANK one of the most profitable banks in Ukraine.
International journalists and organizations are keeping an eye on the IBOX BANK case and are expecting objective justice.
At the same time, the BEB conceals the fact that back in 2023, the court had already examined the validity of the suspicion and multiple motions by the prosecution. After thoroughly reviewing the case, the court fully rejected the unfounded request for detention, which was not based on any credible evidence. This is clearly outlined in the ruling dated November 1, 2023, No. 757/43288/23-k by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv .The legality of that decision was later confirmed by the Kyiv Court of Appeal, which held over 20 hearings from November 2023 to August 2024 and ultimately closed the appellate proceedings by its ruling on August 20, 2024 .
