A French court on January 5 evening released on bail of EUR 1 million businessman, former MP Konstantin Zhevago, who was arrested on December 29 after being detained in Courchevel at the request of the State Bureau of Investigation (GBI), reports the publication Le Dauphine Libéré.
“I did not do all the things I am accused of. I have always fought corruption. Over the past three years, I have asked for my country’s justice to hear me 15 times and 15 times I have been denied,” the businessman was quoted as saying in the article.
According to it, Zhevago is now living in Dubai and has applied for asylum in Gibraltar.
The former deputy said that he is not an oligarch and has always fought against oligarchs, while his lawyers stressed that the businessman needs to be free to continue running his business.
Earlier, it was reported that the court on the same day postponed a hearing on Zhevago’s extradition to Ukraine until January 19 so that the prosecutor and lawyers could prepare.
The State Bureau of Reconstruction and Development accuses Zhevago and a number of top managers of Finance and Credit Bank of organizing a mechanism for embezzlement of $113 million, thus causing damage to the interests of the state and the bank depositors.
According to the State Border Service of Ukraine, the property of the suspect and his associates has been seized, in particular, “shares of his companies worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias, 26 properties, … 14 property complexes, 21 pieces of property complexes, 30 non-residential premises and 10 apartments”.
Kiev’s Pechersky Court decided to detain Zhevago in late 2019, and he was put on the international wanted list in the summer of 2021, although his lawyers denied this fact.
