Case description
On December 25, 2023, the HACC sentenced Volodymyr Ahafonov, former chairman of the board of Real Bank, which belonged to oligarch Kurchenko, to 11 years in absentia. As a member of Yanukovych's criminal group, he seized billions of hryvnias of the bank.
Between 2012 and 2014, while serving as Chair of the Board of Real Bank, Volodymyr Ahafonov participated in schemes of the Yanukovych-Kurchenko criminal organization aimed at misappropriating funds from state and private financial institutions. One of the key episodes was the embezzlement of a stabilization loan from the National Bank of Ukraine. This type of loan is issued to banks to support their liquidity, usually secured by collateral equal in value to the loan.
To create artificial grounds for obtaining such a loan, Ahafonov and other bank officials organized the fictitious placement of UAH 800 million on deposit accounts at Real Bank on behalf of controlled companies Kyivobl-Importtrade and Yurai, which were also used in other operations of Kurchenko’s criminal organization. Later, these companies allegedly terminated the agreements early, and Ahafonov ensured the return of the funds to them, thereby creating the appearance of a liquidity crisis. As collateral for the future stabilization loan, assets of controlled entities were used — an oil depot in Kherson and an unfinished hospital on Laboratorna Street in Kyiv. The value of these assets was artificially inflated from the real UAH 200 million to UAH 1.5 billion.
Although the NBU initially planned to provide only UAH 180 million, under pressure from officials involved in the scheme, the decision was changed, and Real Bank received a stabilization loan of UAH 800 million. The funds were not used as intended but were instead diverted to accounts of fictitious companies controlled by the criminal organization, followed by laundering and cash withdrawal. As a result, the bank lost solvency, and the state’s stabilization resources were misappropriated.
Detectives charge Ahafonov with involvement in the misappropriation of Real Bank’s own funds totaling about UAH 4.7 billion (including UAH 800 million from the National Bank of Ukraine obtained as a stabilization loan). The scheme operated through systematic lending to controlled companies with signs of fictitiousness. Loans were issued without proper collateral or secured by overvalued assets lacking sufficient real worth. In this way, bank funds were effectively siphoned out of Real and came under the control of members of the criminal organization.
Another episode concerns the misappropriation of funds from Brokbusinessbank, which was also under the control of members of the same group. With Ahafonov’s participation, Brokbusinessbank extended interbank loans totaling UAH 865 million to Real Bank. The issuance of these loans involved falsified documents, as the decision had not been approved by the bank’s supervisory board and also violated a direct NBU prohibition on issuing loans over UAH 10 million, given Brokbusinessbank’s own liquidity problems.
The funds received from Brokbusinessbank were never intended to be repaid; instead, part of them was used to cover old debts to that same bank. The rest was transferred to accounts of controlled companies or converted into cash.
Overall, Ahafonov’s role was to organize and ensure the execution of key operations that enabled Kurchenko’s criminal organization to misappropriate and launder the funds of Ukrainian banks.
Ahafonov has been on the international wanted list since 2015. At the same time, the SSU opened criminal proceedings against Ahafonov and former NBU head Ihor Sorkin for embezzling UAH 2.8 billion from the National Bank and PJSC Agrarian Fund.
Ahafonov’s actions were charged under Article 255(1), Article 191(5), Article 209(3), Article 366(2), and Article 366(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The HACC convicted him in absentia, sentencing him to 11 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of all property, disqualification from holding administrative positions for three years, and a fine of UAH 12,750. In addition, the court ordered Ahafonov to pay UAH 503 million under the civil claim of the National Bank of Ukraine and UAH 5.57 billion under the claim of the Individual Deposit Guarantee Fund.
As a result of appellate review, the HACC Appeals Chamber amended the judgment only with respect to lifting the seizure of one apartment, as the judges established that prior to the seizure order and before the verdict, it had already belonged to another person, which was confirmed by the purchase agreement and registry extracts. The prosecutor did not object to this decision. In all other respects, the verdict was upheld.
At present, the cassation court is considering an appeal against Ahafonov’s conviction.
