Kostyantin Zhevago, the billionaire owner of Ukrainian iron producer Ferrexpo Plc, was detained in France on suspicion of money laundering and embezzling funds linked to his banking business at home, investigators in Kyiv said.
Zhevago was held at a hotel in the luxury French ski resort Courchevel on Tuesday by French police, the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday in a statement on its website.
The “necessary package of documents for his extradition from France to Ukraine is being prepared,” the bureau said. Ukraine put him on the international wanted list in 2019.
An appeals court in Chambery will rule on the extradition request, a magistrate said by phone. She said Zhevago was on his way to be presented to the court.
Finance & Credit JSC, a lender owned by Zhevago, was declared insolvent by the central bank in 2015, and an investigation established that $113 million had been siphoned out and transferred to foreign companies he owned, according to the State Bureau of Investigations.
It caused “damage to the state and the interests of the bank’s depositors,” the bureau said. Two executives from Finance & Credit have been indicted.
Zhevago has denied any wrongdoing. His press office wasn’t immediately able to comment. Zhevago owns 50.3% of London-traded Ferrexpo, according to Bloomberg data. Shares in Ferrexpo listed in London were down 3%.
source mining.com
