Ukraine Questions Former Central Bank Chief

In April, the former Ukrainian central bank chief Valeria Gontareva was wanted for questioning as a suspect in a corruption investigation the day after a new Ukraine president was elected.

Accusation of corruptions were raised after a day later when a Ukrainian journalist launched a Facebook campaign against Gontareva. She was accused of pilfering the state funds and at his request, thousands of people sent emails to her new employer in London.

In April 2017, Gontareva, denies wrongdoing then quit at the National Bank of Ukraine’s governor as a liberal economic reformer. She is afraid to set foot in Ukraine because she believes she is a victim of “political persecution”.

In December 2016, to nationalize PrivatBank, Ukraine’s biggest lender, Gontareva, 54, says she is being harassed as part of a long-running battle over her decision. She has, in the process, locked horns with Ihor Kolomoisky, who was the bank’s top owner.

On April 21, because the new president and the tycoon are business associates, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s election victory have emboldened Kolomoisky’s allies, stated by Gontareva.

In a news report over a telephone from London, where she now works as a Senior Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics, Gontareva said, “This is not just a coincidence,” also adding “They have become more active, because they feel complete impunity, a lack of justice in the country … They are Kolomoisky’s clowns.”

There are no evidence about the new presidential administration, or who was behind the General Prosecutor’s request to question Gontareva or the Facebook campaign, news report said.

Zelenskiy has said he will not help Kolomoisky in the legal battle over PrivatBank. Meanwhile, a campaign against Gontareva was denied being arranged by Kolomoisky.

A Kiev court ruled on April 18 that the nationalization was illegal, and the central bank has appealed against the ruling. Kolomoisky has denied wrongdoing and is fighting the decision. PrivatBank had been used for fraud and money-laundering, the central bank said.

Investors confidence and sour relations with the International Monetary Fund would decrease, as reversing the nationalization happens, the central bank says.

It is the one that keeps Ukraine’s economy on an even upturn with a $3.9 billion aid-for-reforms program as a backing for help.

Deposits worth more than $300 million were taken out of PrivatBank in the next few weeks, due to investors’ nervousness about the April 18 court ruling.

Mysterious Coffin Outside the Central Bank

As accusations of being money-laundering vehicles or personal piggy banks for oligarchs rise, Gontareva as central bank chief from June 2014 closed dozens of banks in a clean-up of the banking system.

Opponents once left a coffin with a cutout of her face at the central bank’s entrance.

The IMF praised her reforms but made her unpopular with some Ukrainian lawmakers and business leaders.

The central bank and Ukraine’s economy suffered “enormous damage” under Gontareva as stated by Alexander Dubinsky, who launched the Facebook campaign.

In a news report, he wrote in response to questions, “She acted like a vulture, attacking weakened banks in order to create conditions for the plundering and redistribution of asset.”