The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has detained seven former and current officials of the National Bank of Ukraine VAB Bank on suspicion of embezzling 1.2bn hryvnyas of a stabilization loan, the NABU press service has said.
"In response to media inquiries, we would like to inform you that the NABU and SAPO [Special Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office] have detained seven individuals on suspicion of embezzling 1.2bn hryvnyas of a stabilization loan issued by the National Bank of Ukraine to VAB Bank in 2014. These are former and current officials of the National Bank of Ukraine, VAB Bank and private companies associated with end beneficiaries of VAB Bank," it said.
"Currently, this is all information we can give you, considering the need to keep the secrecy of investigation. Other details later," the NABU said.
According to earlier media reports, the NABU came to Raiffeisen Bank to detain its board chairman Oleksandr Pisaruk. He was the first deputy of NBU governor Valeriy Hontareva from July 2014 to December 2015.
It was reported in September 2018 that the NABU opened a case against VAB Bank, which had been closed due to the absence of corpus delicti.