Pro-Russian oligarch Dmytro Firtash is under NSDC sanctions and has been hiding in Vienna for over a decade, yet the associated Alliance Bank continues to operate in Ukraine.
The fact that Alliance Bank continues to function indicates that the oligarchic system is unwilling to relinquish influence, while state institutions either lack effective mechanisms or fail to apply them. As a result, there is a lack of accountability for corruption-related crimes, and processes involving the illegal appropriation of millions of dollars continue even in a country at war.
The activities of Alliance Bank have once again become the subject of journalistic investigation. The Apostrof TV channel conducted its own inquiry. Journalists note that Alliance Bank was originally created to serve the interests of Dmytro Firtash’s financial and industrial empire, DF Group. They also state that there are grounds to believe Firtash built his empire using Russian money and in the interests of the Russian Federation.
In 2014, Reuters published an investigation claiming that Russia’s Gazprombank opened a credit line for Firtash worth $11 billion. With these funds, the businessman acquired Severodonetsk Azot, Cherkasy Azot, Rivneazot, the Nika-Tera seaport, Nadra Bank, and the Stirol concern.
The investigation further emphasizes that despite the sale of Alliance Bank in 2015 to Oleksandr Sosis, it continued to function as a cash-out hub for Firtash-related enterprises. Journalists argue that evidence of the bank’s continued ties to its pro-Russian patron includes agricultural business programs actively promoted in recent years.
The monopolistic position of the Firtash Group in the fertilizer market was used as a lure for agricultural companies in “partner” programs widely advertised by Alliance Bank in 2021. The bank offered farmers loans for fertilizer purchases but only through suppliers designated by the bank itself.
According to the investigation, this scheme turned out to be fraudulent, as the supplier company Evoterra Trade failed to fulfill fertilizer delivery contracts. The company had no assets, making it impossible to recover funds for undelivered goods. As a result, farmers found themselves both without fertilizers and heavily indebted to Alliance Bank, while also losing pledged collateral such as agricultural machinery.
To convince agricultural companies of the supplier’s reliability, the bank’s management issued a $10 million loan to Evoterra Trade, a company created shortly before the contract signing and allegedly connected to the bank’s founders. This loan was never repaid, yet neither the bank, the National Bank of Ukraine, nor law enforcement agencies took action.
According to journalists, this fraudulent scheme allowed the diversion of funds from Ukrainian agricultural enterprises and facilitated the withdrawal of money from the bank through unsecured loans issued to a bank-linked company.
The authors of the investigation also report that thousands of court cases involving Alliance Bank are currently being reviewed in Ukrainian courts. Among them are cases in which billions in damages caused by the bank have not been compensated for years, including claims by Ukraine’s state energy company Ukrenergo.
Alliance Bank also has outstanding obligations under bank guarantees amounting to $2 billion owed to Naftogaz of Ukraine. The media emphasize that the prolonged legal proceedings allow the bank to continue using funds belonging to the state and depositors in questionable schemes.
Ultimately, the scale of damage to businesses and the state depends on the effectiveness of the National Bank of Ukraine and law enforcement agencies. As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated following the NSDC meeting on June 23, 2023, Ukraine is accelerating efforts to implement European recommendations, working with the EU on judicial reform, and strengthening accountability for corruption within the justice system.
