FORMER Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov has been accused of stealing around £37million from his own bank following a seven-year global fraud probe.
The Russian-born tycoon, 72, is among 13 former Ukio Bankas officials now named as suspects in the alleged eight-figure embezzlement.
All are expected to stand trial this year. Lithuanian prosecutors allege that Romanov and other bank execs abused their positions of trust over many years by “issuing loans for private purposes”.
In total the 13 are accused of swindling 41.6million euros from Ukio — an estimated £37million.
That includes £12million spent on the purchase of the Jambos, Belarus’ FC Partizan Minsk, the Lithuanian basketball club Zalgiris and properties in Russia, the Netherlands and London’s posh Mayfair.
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The Romanov fraud probe, launched in 2013, was finally completed at the end of this January.
All 13, including Romanov, have been charged with money laundering and misconduct in a public office. Romanov, who held 65 per cent of shares in Ukio Bankas, fled to Russia in May 2013 and was granted asylum three months later.
The Lithuanian authorities have failed in a number of bids to extradite him since to stand trial. Last week they confirmed the trial will go ahead in his absence after new laws were brought in for that specific purpose two years ago.
The seven-year investigation was carried out by Lithuania’s Office of the General Prosecutor and the country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Service.
Senior prosecutor Ugnius Vycinas said: “Suspicions have been brought against 13 persons.
“They are suspected of acting as an organised group, including the bank’s majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov, as well as former members of the bank’s supervisory and management boards.
“Based on estimates, they are suspected of squandering assets worth more than 40million euros.”
Robert Sadianec, who headed a special Romanov task force, claimed: “The suspects abused their office to give bank loans to companies under their control.
“The illegitimate funds were also laundered via the accounts of 80 persons and used to purchase real estate.” When Romanov — dubbed Mad
Vlad — took over Hearts in 2005 he said they could win the Champions League in five years.
He also opened a branch of Ukio Bankas in Edinburgh in 2012.
Mysteriously, it closed after just seven months. A Lithuanian source said: “Romanov is suspected of robbing his own bank. It’s alleged it was being systematically stripped of assets by the people running it.
“The question is how much of that missing money was spent on Hearts when Romanov was owner.”
The tycoon, who has denied any wrongdoing, is the only suspect currently not living in Lithuania.
All 13 have had their assets frozen pending the trial, which include Romanov’s £1million villa in Kaunas, the Baltic state’s second city.
Police in Britain, Isle of Man, Switzerland, Bosnia, Italy, Belarus, Sweden and Russia were asked to help the investigation.
Exiled Romanov will be sent a copy of the charges and allowed the chance to return in person to face justice. If found guilty, Romanov faces up to seven years in prison.
He owned Hearts until 2013 when the club went bust owing Ukio Bankas around £15million.
The club was bought out of administration a year later for £2.5million by a consortium led by present owner Ann Budge.
A separate probe is being carried out by the Financial Crimes Investigation Service into the bank’s collapse — thought to involve losses of around £325million.
In 2007 Romanov won Lithuania’s version of Strictly Come Dancing. He failed in a 2012 presidential bid.
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In a bizarre interview earlier this year he claimed he tried to buy Liverpool FC for £200million after acquiring Hearts and would have sold Rangers manager Steven Gerrard to Chelsea for £120million.
Elena Martinoniene, of the Office of the Prosecutor General, confirmed it was still trying to extradite Romanov from Russia.
She added: “The international search is still active.”
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