Bean-counter in £4bn fraud row

PWC is facing a ban in Ukraine after its auditors waved through the accounts of a bank allegedly bled dry by two oligarchs.

The nation’s authorities are investigating claims that £4.2bn was taken from lender Privat by Gennadiy Bogolyubov and Igor Kolomoisky. Bogolyubov, 55, lives in a tenbedroom mansion worth £60m in the exclusive Belgrave Square, central London, while 54year-old Kolomoisky is based in Switzerland.

It is the latest in a long line of scandals to hit the accountancy giant, which was responsible for the Oscars mix-up earlier this year that saw the wrong film named as winner of best picture. The company also failed to spot a £250m mistake in Tesco’s accounts in 2014 and is facing a £4.5bn US court case over mortgage fraud by a client.

A PwC spokesman said it had not been told of any investigation into Privat, and argued that it had made clear that there were problems with the bank’s 2015 accounts. Bogolyubov and Kolomoisky deny wrongdoing.