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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The court closed the case of "Aibox Bank" regarding Alona Shevtsova, but the prosecutorate is appealing the decision.
The Holosiivskyi district court of Kyiv closed the criminal proceeding against co-owner of the liquidated “Aibox Bank” Alona Shevtsova and two other bank managers — Iryna Tsyhanok and Zoia Nesterovska.
This was reported by the “Judicial Reporter” with reference to the ruling dated 29 July.
The court closed the case at the motion of attorneys, concluding that the prosecutor filed the indictment after the pre-trial investigation period had ended.
The preparatory court session was held with the participation of the prosecutor and defense attorneys. The prosecutor opposed holding it in the absence of the accused and argued that the issue of a special court proceeding should be resolved first.
However, the defense of the accused objected, since the indictment was sent to the court based on the results of completed special pre-trial investigation, and the court may decide to close the case in the interests of the defendants. In addition, the defense explained to the court that they work under contracts and maintain ongoing communication with their clients, who are aware of the judicial process.
Since the suspects were on the wanted list and because of requests for international legal assistance, the investigation was repeatedly paused and resumed.
But in November 2024 year, Lychakivskyi district court of Lviv, at the request of the defense, canceled three decisions of the detective of the Terupravlinniya of the Bureau of Economic Security in Lviv region — orders to suspend the pre-trial investigation. The court found that materials of the fulfilled international legal assistance request had already been received by the Office of the Prosecutor General and by the Bureau of Economic Security. After the request was fulfilled, there were allegedly no grounds to stop the investigation.
The prosecutor disagreed with this court decision and stated that materials of fulfilled international legal assistance requests regarding Shevtsova from the United Arab Emirates had not yet been received by Ukrainian law enforcement as of the date of the preparatory court session. Partial results of fulfilling the request for international legal assistance regarding another suspect from competent authorities of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland were received by investigators only in December 2024 year, i.e., after the decision of the Lychakivskyi district court of Lviv.
The results of fulfilling the international legal assistance request regarding yet another defendant from competent authorities of the Republic of Poland were received by the TUB BEB in Lviv region and measures are being taken to translate them.
However the decision of the Lychakivskyi district court of Lviv was confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Therefore, the Kyiv Holosiivskyi court believes that the prosecutor did not refute the legality of the decision to suspend the investigation and did not justify that there should be a different procedure for calculating the pre-trial investigation period.
Instead, from the documents, the court sees that there were no grounds to suspend the pre-trial investigation precisely on the grounds of the search of the suspects and the necessity to carry out procedural actions within international cooperation with regard to the suspects in May and August 2024 year. After all, the location of the suspects was established and procedural actions with them were conducted. Under such circumstances, a detective or prosecutor could have suspended the investigation, but on different grounds.
The Kyiv Holosiivskyi court’s order to close the criminal proceedings has not yet come into force.
Currently the prosecutor is appealing it. The Kyiv Court of Appeal has already completed the preparation of the proceeding and scheduled consideration of the appeal for 2 October.
Recall that Alona Shevtsova is accused of organizing and conducting illegal gambling online and laundering proceeds of crime through the “Aibox Bank.”
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Economic Security after the National Bank learned that the “Aibox Bank” serviced accounts of more than 20 controlled companies connected to Shevtsova, to which funds from organizing online gambling were deposited. Law enforcement agencies estimate that the scheme allowed laundering about 4,8 billion UAH for illegal casinos.
Suspicion against Shevtsova and two of her managers was announced in absentia in July 2023.
7 March 2023, the National Bank liquidated “Aibox Bank.” And the very next day Shevtsova left the country and did not return. 9 March likewise the managers of Shevtsova left. All three were later declared wanted. Officially their suspicion was communicated in absentia in July 2023. According to media, Shevtsova allegedly moved to the United Arab Emirates.
30 April 2025-th, the Bureau of Economic Security reported the detention of manager Iryna Tsyhanok of “Aibox Bank” in Poland and the start of her extradition procedure.
Alona Shevtsova is the wife of the former deputy head of the Main Investigations Department of the National Police Evgen Shevtsov. In 2018 year Shevtsov participated in a competition for the head of the State Bureau of Investigation. Then media published photos of the police officer and his wife's luxurious apartment and country house, as well as a photo of a restaurant in central Kyiv — Touch Cafe and the restaurant-club “Golden Fleece” in Odesa. Due to journalistic publications, Shevtsov was not appointed head of the DSB.
In April 2025 year the National Security and Defense Council imposed economic sanctions on Alona Shevtsova. The entrepreneur called this an attack on her business by corrupt officials. She states she has a personal conflict with the former head of the Department of Counterintelligence Protection of State Interests in Economic Security at the SBU, Artem Shil, and the former deputy general prosecutor, Dmytro Verbytsky, as well as the head of the BEE detectives, Oleksandr Tkachuk.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Суд закрив справу "Айбокс банку" щодо Альони Шевцової, але прокуратура оскаржує рішення". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
