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Ūkio Bankas was a
Lithuaniancommercial bank based in
Kaunas. More than 50% of shares are owned by Lithuanian businessman
Vladimir Romanov who therefore is in the control of the bank.[1] It was the fifth largest and oldest private bank in Lithuania.
In October 2006, during an internet conference on the news portal
Delfi.lt Vladimir Romanov announced his plans of selling his shares to the strategic investor.
GE Money, a branch of
General Electric, as one of the possible buyers was mentioned by Romanov.[2]
In common with other banks Ūkio Bankas suffered from the effects of
credit crunch and on 26 August 2008, rating agency Standard & Poor downgraded the banks status from stable to negative.[3]
The organisation sponsored Lithuanian football club
FBK Kaunas and Scottish team
Hearts. Romanov was the owner of Hearts and a board member of FBK Kaunas.
Arnis Lagzdins was the compliance official at Ukio Bankas during the money laundering and had previously held the same position at
Parex Bank in
Latvia when very large sums were money laundered allegedly through Parex Bank and its sister firm Overseas Services by
Vladimir Putin,
Yuri Chaika, and the
Russian Mafia including the
Tambovskaya Organized Crime Group which looted various governments according to Spanish prosecutors.[19][21][22][23]
In February 2013, the bank was revealed to have poor asset quality, weak risk management and lack of proper operating data. The check also revealed that the bank has ignored the central bank's recommendation to reduce operating risks. On 12 February, the Bank of Lithuania in accordance with Art. 76 of the Law on Banks of the Republic of Lithuania (the “Law on Banks”) announced a partial and temporal restriction on activities (the “Moratorium”) of AB Ūkio bankas.[24] Ukio was removed from the Lithuanian stock exchange later that month,[25] with many of its assets and liabilities transferred to
Šiaulių bankas.
^Diron Trade LLP, a stolen company with a Great Britain postal box, assisted in $5.8 billion in
money laundering transfers between
Swedbank's baltic subsidiaries and
Danske Bank's branch in
Tallinn during 6 months in 2010 and 2011 according to
SVT.[11]
^The Hermitage Capital Management owned company HSBC Guernsey Ltd was stolen in autumn 2007 by the Kazan, Tatarstan company OOO Pluton owned by Viktor Markelov.[10]
^Magnitsky maintained that the three Russia-based companies OOO Rilend, OOO Parfenion, and OOO Markhaon were stolen by Pluton Ltd. Viktor Markelov became owner of Pluton Ltd. in July 2007.[12] The Hermitage Capital Management owned Cyprus-based subsidiaries, Glendora Holdings Ltd. and Kone Holdings Ltd., had 100% ownership of Riland Ltd. and Parfenion Ltd., and Makhaon Ltd., respectively.[13]
^Under pro
Russia, pro
Kremlin, and pro
PutinViktor Yanukovych's
second government, three weapons shipments were authorized for
Mombasa, Kenya and the Kenyan military of 110 Ukraine built T-72 tanks and their shells, Grad rocket launchers, artillery pieces, anti aircraft guns, RPG-7 grenade launchers, ammunition, and five containers of AKM assault rifles. However, one shipment was hijacked by
Al-Shabaab militants associated with
Somali pirates and all three shipments' cargoes were sent to forces close to the pro
KremlinSouth Sudan militants. In September 2008, the
MV Faina sailed from the
Port of Oktyabrsk in Korabyelniy Raion (
Ukrainian: Корабельный район) near
Mykolaiv,[16] Ukraine with armaments bound for
Mombasa for the
Kenya Defense Forces but the ship was hijacked by Somali pirates. It arrived in October 2007. On 12 December 2007, the MV Beluga Endurance with Phoenix Transport Services of Ukraine sailed from Oktyabrsk and arrived in Mombasa on 12 January 2008.[14][17] In 2008, two arms shipments from Ukraine were intended to support pro Russia pro Kremlin, pro Putin forces in South Sudan during the civil war in South Sudan, but Ukrainian leaders lied about the destination of the armaments which United States diplomats denounced.[18]