Kostyantyn Zhevago is a businessman, People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII convocations, Executive Director of Ferrexpo, beneficiary of the Finance and Credit Bank.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on January 7, 1974 in the village of Iultin in the Magadan region. He spent his childhood and youth in the Zaporizhzhia region, in the city of Dniprorudne.
He received his higher education at the Kyiv State University of Economics, which he graduated in 1996 with a degree in Accounting and Analysis of Foreign Economic Activity.
In 2003, he defended his dissertation on the topic “International Investments and Effective Economic Development”, receiving the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences.
Career
In 1993, when he was 19 years old and still studying at the university, he took the position of financial director in the closed joint stock company (CJSC) “Finance and Credit”. He held this position for three years, after which he headed the board of the financial and industrial group of the same name.
In addition, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC) “Poltava Mining and Processing Plant” and was a member of the Supervisory Board of Ukrnafta.
Subsequently, he became the de facto head and owner of a controlling stake (51%) in the Ferrexpo group, which is engaged in the extraction and processing of iron ore. In 2019, he left this position against the background of criminal proceedings opened against him.
Political Activities
He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada six times. In 1998, he won a mandate as an independent candidate, winning the elections in the 149th constituency in the Poltava region.
Four years later, in 2002, he also ran as an independent candidate, but in the 150th constituency of the same region.
In 2006 and 2007, he entered the parliament on the list of the political association “Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc“, both times occupying the 62nd position in the electoral list.
In 2012 and 2014, he ran again in the 150th district as a self-nominated candidate and won.
In 2019, he again tried to run for the Verkhovna Rada, but without success.
Assets
According to Forbes, in April 2024, Zhevago’s fortune was estimated at $1.2 billion.
He owns 49.5% of the shares of Ferrexpo, which, in particular, controls the Poltava, Yeristovsky and Bilanovsky mining and processing plants.
In addition, his name is associated with a number of other enterprises. Among them are the pharmaceutical company Arterium, the Progress machine-building plant, the Myasna Lavka chain of stores, the Rosava Private Joint Stock Company (PJSC), as well as the Vorskla football club.
As for the Finance and Credit Bank, in 2015 the National Bank of Ukraine decided to liquidate it. Zhevago also owned PJSC “AutoKrAZ” and the hotel “Salyut” in the capital. The first asset was nationalized, and the second was transferred to the National Bank of Ukraine as compensation for the debts of the Finance and Credit Bank.
Criminal Cases
In 2019, criminal proceedings were initiated against Zhevago, which concerned his possible involvement in the embezzlement of 2.5 billion hryvnias. According to the investigation, he, together with one of the heads of the Finance and Credit Bank, purposefully issued loans that were considered bad in advance. The court decided to recover 1.5 billion hryvnias from the businessman in favor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
In the second half of the same year, the entrepreneur was put on the international wanted list, as he systematically did not appear for interrogations appointed by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). At the same time, the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) charged him with entering false information into the official declaration.
Two years later, Zhevago was officially put on the international wanted list through Interpol.
In 2022, the Bureau of Economic Security (ESBU) of Ukraine opened a new criminal proceeding concerning a company associated with a businessman. The organization was suspected of tax evasion in the amount of UAH 94.6 million. In the same year, searches initiated by the State Bureau of Investigation took place at enterprises that had ties with Zhevago. The investigative actions were carried out as part of an investigation into possible commercial relations of companies with the Russian Federation (RF).
At the end of December 2022, Zhevago was detained in France, in the ski resort of Courchevel. The detention took place at the request of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, after which the court decided on extradition arrest. However, a few months after his arrest, he posted a bail of 1 million euros and was released, although he remained restricted in his movement on the French mainland.
In 2023, Zhevago became a defendant in another criminal investigation related to the possible transfer of a bribe to the then chairman of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev.
In the fall of 2023, the Supreme Court of France closed the case of the businessman’s extradition to Ukraine.
Marital Status
He is married to Alina Zhevaga. The couple has a son, Ivan, and a daughter, Sophia.
