ARTSYZ, Ukraine/LONDON—When Ukrainian company Profit signed a $48.5 million deal with a British firm in 2014, it became part of what prosecutors in Ukraine say was a potentially criminal scheme that moved $1.7 billion from the country’s biggest lender to offshore accounts.
With a loan it had raised from PrivatBank in east Ukraine, Profit paid Trade Point Agro Limited in London on Aug. 18, 2014 for 24,250 tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate, a polymer used in fabrics and plastic containers, according to a legal complaint Profit filed in November 2014 to try to recover the funds.
