Cashier of Arbuzov and Kurchenko now handling “eOselya”: how Serhii Mamedov entered state mortgage billions through Globus Bank

Serhii Hennadiyovych Mamedov currently officially holds the position of chairman of the board and effectively controls Globus Bank. For years, billions of hryvnias connected to Yanukovych’s “family” flowed through this financial institution, and now it handles the state preferential mortgages under the “eOselya” program.

Mamedov’s career began in the circle of Vasyl Horbal. From December 2006 to October 2010 he served as deputy chairman of the board of Ukrhazbank, which at the time was effectively owned and managed by Horbal. After nationalization in May 2011, Mamedov himself headed the board of the state bank. It was under him in February 2014, when Yanukovych’s circle was leaving the country, that Ukrhazbank issued a loan of 673 million hryvnias to Brokbiznesbank owned by Serhii Kurchenko. The funds were never returned. An additional 55 million hryvnias went to Kurchenko-controlled companies — Kvanta-Kosta, Neosynthesis, and Krymbutangaz. Earlier, nearly 2 billion hryvnias had been siphoned from the same bank to Kurchenko’s structures. Mamedov was called the personal financial manager of Serhii Arbuzov, Yurii Kolobov, and Oleksandr Klymenko.

After leaving Ukrhazbank, Mamedov moved to Globus. He established control over the bank through a raider scheme. Denys Maltsev, who owned a significant share and even baptized Mamedov’s son, was removed from the list of founders using forged documents. An Austrian forensic expert confirmed the falsification. The group that prepared those documents was led by Mamedov himself. At the same time, courts are considering a case about his embezzlement of 850 thousand dollars from someone else’s deposit account in 2017.

In February 2022 the State Bureau of Investigation checked possible money laundering of 135 million hryvnias involving Globus Bank and LLC Nove Obladnannia (EDRPOU 38929719). Criminal proceeding No.62019000000000982 was opened under articles 191 and part 2 of art. 209 of the Criminal Code — embezzlement of property on an especially large scale and legalization of proceeds. According to the investigation, officials of Nove Obladnannia, in collusion with officials of state enterprises, carried out cyclical pseudo-economic operations between deposit accounts, after which the funds were transferred to fictitious companies. The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv reviewed the SBI’s petition to extend investigation terms.

Today Mamedov’s Globus Bank is among the key authorized banks of the state program “eOselya.” The program is implemented by PJSC Ukrfinzhytlo, which since November 2022 has been headed by Yevhen Metzger. The same Metzger who previously led UkrEximBank and whose bodyguards attacked the Schemes crew, seized flash drives, and tried to destroy recordings. The case about the attack was later closed due to statute-of-limitations. Metzger retained his state position and now distributes billions through “eOselya.”

Mamedov and Metzger have ended up in the same financial chain: one controls the commercial bank that issues preferential mortgages, the other runs the state company that provides those funds. Globus officially acts as Ukrfinzhytlo’s representative under a power-of-attorney agreement and can transfer the loan portfolio back to the state. Participants in the program have repeatedly noted that preferential loans were received not only by those for whom they were intended.

The former financier of Yanukovych’s “family” and Horbal today controls state mortgage flows together with a person who has close ties to the presidential circle. The bank through which Kurchenko’s funds were previously withdrawn and laundering of 135 millions was carried out now participates in financing “eOselya.”