<<Print>>

The glamorous wife of a prominent Ukrainian tycoon and politician 'carried £22 million in cash through a refugee border crossing into the EU', it is alleged.

The money - in US dollars and euros - was spotted by Hungarian customs in the baggage of the spouse of controversial ex-MP Igor Kotvitsky, 52, say reports.

A picture shows the suspected cash haul.A criminal case has been opened into a failure by Anastasia Kotvitska to declare the removal of the large sum from the war-ravaged country, say reports in Kyiv.

Kotvitsky - once Ukraine’s wealthiest MP - said his wife was leaving the country to give birth, but denied reports she was carrying $28 million and 1.3 million euros.

'All my money is in Ukrainian banks, I did not take anything out,' he said, before closing his social media account.

A statement from him carried on the social media of his Swiss-educated daughter Violetta, 24, said the story was 'fake and rumours'.

Kotvitska, who reportedly travelled with two Hungarian men and her mother, has not commented on the frontier incident.