Court arrests investment banker Mazepa in connection to illegal land acquisition
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The Kyiv Pechersk District court ordered the arrest of the detained Ukrainian businessman and the founder of the Concorde Capital investment company, Igor Mazepa, Suspilne reported on Jan. 19.
He was taken into custody until Feb. 27 with an alternative of almost Hr 350 million ($9.1 million) bail, even though the prosecution insisted on bail in the amount of Hr 700 million ($18.2 million).
Mazepa was detained a day earlier as he tried to cross the border into Poland. According to Concorde Capital, he was on his way to the Davos forum in Switzerland while law enforcement officers raided the company’s office.
On Jan. 19, the State Investigation Bureau said that the businessman is suspected of illegally seizing land near Kyiv, calling him "the organizer of a criminal scheme."
The matter concerns seven hectares of land on which the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant facilities are located. Tetiana Sapian, a communications advisor of the State Bureau of Investigation, said the construction could put the capital’s infrastructure at risk.
Mazepa denied the accusations. He said that the case "concerns the events of ten years ago," claiming "the persecution of businessmen."
The Ukrainian publication NV said on Jan. 18, citing its sources, that Mazepa's detention is related to the acquisition of land rights for the construction of the luxurious cottage resort Goodlife Park in the Vyshhorod district, Kyiv Oblast.
The resort, lying only 12 kilometers from the capital, was built in 2013 and covers an area of 40 hectares.
Mazepa founded Concorde Capital in 2004. The company provides banking, brokerage, and asset management services and is considered to be one of Ukraine's leading investment banks.
For several months in 2014, Mazepa was a supervisory committee member of Alfa-Bank, run by a banking group of Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven. Last year, Ukraine nationalized the Ukrainian branch of Alfa-Bank, renamed Sense Bank.
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