Oschadbank's losses due to the termination of loan payments to the owners of the Gulliver shopping center could reach UAH 21 billion. This is equal to 75% of the bank’s own capital, which now amounts to UAH 28.5 billion.
In early June, the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kyiv allowed the transfer of the Gulliver complex to the management of the National Agency for the Identification, Search and Management of Assets Obtained from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA), having satisfied the corresponding petition of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Representatives of Gulliver stated that this decision grossly violates procedural and substantive rules of law and actually means a seizure of business with the assistance of law enforcement and security agencies.
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank, responsible for working with NPL, Arsen Milyutin, said that after the last restructuring in 2020, which was supervised by the then Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank Andrei Pyshny, the amount of the main obligation of “Three O” to state banks was already $674.99 million ($537.21 million of Oschadbank and $137.78 million of Ukreximbank), and the payment period was extended until January 2044. It is known that for the use of credit funds the company paid 3.65% and 4.15% per annum in foreign currency, respectively.
Let us recall that in 2006, Oschadbank and Ukreximbank issued a multicurrency loan totaling $61.6 million at 13.5% per annum in hryvnia and 12% in dollars with a repayment period until December 2012 to Three O LLC.
In 2013-2019, the amount of debt increased to $440.99 million (352.79 million to Oschadbank and 88.2 million to Ukreximbank). This figure became known thanks to an extract from the register of rights to real estate, which also showed that the payment period was extended until December 2025. But in 2017, the company entered into a new mortgage agreement with banks, under which it also mortgaged a plot of 0.11 hectares.
In 2016, the then chairman of the board of Oschadbank, Andrei Pyshny, refused to answer Zerkalo Nedeli journalists’ question about the amount of the Three O loan and how it was serviced, citing bank secrecy.
In 2018, Oschadbank put up for sale the rights to claim under the loan and under security agreements (the Gulliver shopping center, plots on Sports Square, 1-A and 100% of Tri O LLC) for UAH 18.18 billion. But the auction never took place - all 10 participants were rejected due to non-payment of the guarantee fee (UAH 908 million).
Let us recall that the property of the Gulliver CFK was recognized as material evidence in criminal proceedings regarding the probable tax evasion of the owner of Gulliver, Tri O LLC, by 145 million hryvnia. As part of this case, the manager of Tri O LLC was informed of suspicion.
The pre-trial investigation is carried out by the BEB under the procedural guidance of the prosecutor of the Office of the Prosecutor General. From a procedural point of view, no gross violations or abuses are seen in the actions of law enforcement agencies and courts to transfer the property of the complex to the management of ARMA. But this does not mean that the measures to ensure the investigation can be assessed as adequate.
In April 2024, the Kiev Court of Appeal granted the request of the Office of the Prosecutor General and seized the property of Three O LLC, including the Gulliver BFC. Next, the court transferred the property of the Gulliver shopping center to the management of ARMA.
The Gulliver shopping, entertainment and business center is managed by the wife of businessman Polishchuk, Liliya Rizva, and the Three O company (the legal name of the complex) is the formal owner - her cousin is listed in the register. However, the media have repeatedly reported that Polishchuk is the owner of the complex, citing numerous sources on the market. In their investigation, Schemes published a guarantee agreement for the loan for Gulliver, personally signed by Viktor Polishchuk.
“Schemes” discovered that the owner of “Gulliver” owed state-owned Oschadbank and Ukreximbank about 14 billion hryvnia, which he must repay by 2044 - under the terms of restructuring this debt on favorable terms for the borrower. But due to the complete stop of payments in the first year of the full-scale invasion, state banks have already received about 500 million hryvnia less from its structures.
At the same time, “Schemes” drew attention to the fact that Viktor Polishchuk himself continues to buy luxury cars.
Oschadbank explained its unwillingness to engage in forced collection of collateral or money from Viktor Polishchuk by the fact that the use of these settlement options “will mean the actual termination of relations with the debtor in a situation where he agrees and is ready to cooperate with Oschadbank JSC to repay the debt.” Regarding the favorable debt restructuring conditions for the borrower, which were approved in 2020 for the next quarter century at a significantly lower market interest rate, the bank explained that they made this decision, taking into account, among other things, “the debtor’s being in a critical financial condition.”
Ukreximbank, when asked by Radio Liberty about preferential terms for Polishchuk, also noted that the terms of restructuring depend on the type of activity, the current financial condition of the debtor, prospects for business recovery and financial burden.
In addition, journalists established that during martial law, Polishchuk traveled abroad several times on the basis of documents with signs of forgery. The businessman applied to the Shlyakh system as a volunteer driver, but did not deliver the requested assistance, and the foreign company, which was supposedly supposed to provide it, stated that it did not do this and its name was used without the knowledge of the organization. Also, Viktor Polishchuk drove a truck twice, getting a job as a driver on the staff of a carrier company, but both times he did not bring cargo, but returned to Ukraine in his passenger Mercedes.
After the release of the journalistic investigation, the National Police and SAPO began two criminal proceedings. In particular, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office registered proceedings under the article “abuse of power or official position.”
Victor Polishchuk and Irina Kruppa left the detailed list of questions sent by the editors unanswered.
