The owner of the bank "Zemelny Capital" was announced suspicion

The owner of the bank "Zemelny Capital" was announced suspicion

The National Police has accused the owner of the bankrupt bank of creating, managing, and participating in a criminal organization, embezzlement, misappropriation of property, forgery, and money laundering.

According to the case materials, the suspect specifically acquired the bank to siphon funds.

The press service of the National Police reports that he involved the bank’s chairman and board members, the head of the supervisory board, private entrepreneurs, appraisers, and state registrars in the scheme. Under the organizer’s leadership, they registered real estate of large areas, allegedly located in the central districts of Kyiv and Kharkiv, in the state register of property rights. These non-existent objects became collateral for obtaining loans worth over 90 million UAH.

The police officially do not disclose the suspect’s name, but sources indicate that it is about Viktor Topolov (a former Minister of Coal Industry) and the bank "Zemelny Capital." The Board of the National Bank decided on August 11, 2021, to classify "Zemelny Capital" as insolvent due to insufficient funds.

"With the illegally obtained depositors’ money, the suspects funded their own business projects for building factories and CHPPs, the operational activities of a coal mine, and the purchase of luxury cars and real estate. Along with this, the banking security management staff annually drafted inspection reports on the availability and liquidity of non-existent collateral. All this led to the bank being declared insolvent in 2021, as it failed to meet payments to its clients and settle payment orders. Police investigators and operatives of the Department of Strategic Investigations identified 27 individuals who at various times were part of the criminal organization," the message reads.

Seven of them had already been informed of suspicion for embezzlement, misappropriation of property, or taking possession of it through abuse of authority and forgery within an organized group. In January 2025, investigators gathered enough evidence to announce suspicions against the bank’s management for creating, managing, and participating in a criminal organization, embezzlement, misappropriation of property or taking possession of it through abuse of authority, forgery, and money laundering obtained by criminal means. Among the suspects is the owner of the bankrupt bank.

To preserve evidence and compensate for the damages, the police seized 12 apartments of the suspects in the capital, 5 private houses in the central part of Kyiv with a total area of over 2000 square meters, land plots, 12 luxury cars, 12 parking spaces, and corporate rights in the charter capital of companies affiliated with the suspects.

The suspects face up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property for the committed acts.