Questions Surround Ukraine’s Bailouts as Banking Chief Steps Down<br />Ms. Gontareva said she was planning to take some time off<br />and re-enter the private sector — she previously worked for a brokerage firm in Ukraine — adding that she hoped never to be a bureaucrat again.<br />But at least $1.8 billion of that money quickly vanished into bad loans, according to the Anti-Corruption Action Center, an independent organization tracking fraud in Ukraine<br />that is financed in part by United States government grants.<br />The government in December spent $5.6 billion on a recapitalization of PrivatBank, which is owned by Ihor V. Kolomoisky — the pro-Kiev commander of a battle-hardened militia<br />and the governor of a crucial region that is on the front line of the Russian conflict.<br />But the hefty cost to Ukrainian taxpayers and Western donors, including the United States, was most likely too high<br />because the failing banks — most disastrously PrivatBank — were refinanced shortly before they collapsed.<br />Ms. Gontareva has protested her innocence and said bank closings during her tenure had in fact put an end to refinancing fraud in Ukraine.<br />The eventual loss from PrivatBank, Ms. Kaleniuk said, should have been obvious to the central bank before it cost donors and taxpayers billions.
