News date: 19 October 2018
On 18 October 2018, the Criminal Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court upheld the cassation appeal lodged by JSC BTA Bank and overturned the judgment upheld by Kyiv Court of Appeal, by which the former Head of the National Joint Stock Insurance Company Oranta, Olena Bolotova, was pronounced innocent. This news was announced by the press service department of the well-reputed Law Firm Ilyashev & Partners, which represents the interests of BTA Bank (Kazakhstan) – the largest shareholder of NJSIC Oranta.
It is to be reminded that Olena Bolotova is accused of committing a criminal offense, stipulated by Article 367 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (neglect of official duty). According to the materials of the criminal proceedings, while occupying the position of the Head of the Management Board of NJSIC Oranta, in 2008 Ms Bolotova approved a number of ineffective decisions on the alienation of marks for goods and services under the commercial name Oranta, which resulted in loss of assets and inflicting damages to the company in the amount of $ 10 million.
“The Cassation Criminal Court within the Supreme Court did not agree with the conclusions made by the lower instance courts, which resulted in the acquittal, – said Roman Marchenko, Senior Partner at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm. – Given the position of the Supreme Court, which has successfully managed to get to the bottom of the situation, the suffering parties expect an objective new judgment further to the second appeal”.
JSC BTA Bank also seeks to bring Olena Bolotova’s accomplices – former Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NJSIC Oranta Oleg Spilka, and a member of the Supervisory Board of NJSIC Oranta Oleksandr Tyminskyi – to justice. Starting from April 2017, the mentioned persons have been on the “wanted” list and have been hiding from law enforcement outside Ukraine. The law enforcement officials pressed charges against Spilka and Timinskyi under Article 191 (5) of the Criminal Code (misappropriation, embezzlement or possession by a person of property by the abuse by him of his office on a particularly large scale or by an organized group of persons) which stipulates for the punishment of up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.