National Bank of Ukraine Governor Andriy Pyshnyy came to deliver a report to the Verkhovna Rada at lawmakers’ request amid the “Forrest Gump” investigation into the use of Sense Bank in an illegal scheme. This became known from the session broadcast.
In his speech, Pyshnyy said the bank’s supervisory board currently lacks a quorum. Therefore, it is necessary to appoint state representatives to it from the government and the relevant Verkhovna Rada committee.
The NBU supports suspending Management Board Chair Oleksii Stupak for the duration of the investigation. The central bank had stressed the need to remove certain individuals from management and raised the issue of holding an open competition as far back as a year ago.
“The inspection will establish all the facts available. We will cooperate with law enforcement agencies,” the NBU governor said.
According to NABU, Sense Bank Management Board Chair and Supervisory Board Chair Oleksii Stupak and Mykola Hladyshenko, in collusion with former MP Maksym Mykytas, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra, and other members of a criminal group, ensured the posting of bail of 150 million hryvnias obtained illegally for former minister Herman Halushchenko, who is a suspect in the Energoatom corruption case. Part of the funds was routed through Sense Bank — the former Russian Alfa-Bank, which became state-owned as a result of nationalization. To move the funds, automatic financial monitoring was switched off, and no manual check was carried out.
NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy, after NABU published information about this case, said that the Committee on Supervision and Regulation of Banks’ Activities found Supervisory Board Chair Mykola Hladyshenko to be non-compliant with the statutory independence requirements. As a result, Hladyshenko cannot be a member of the supervisory board, and his powers must be terminated.
Pyshnyy said that in May, after journalists published part of the materials in the “Midas” case, the NBU initiated a review of Hladyshenko’s compliance and opened administrative proceedings. At the time, journalists reported that Zukerman, one of the key figures in the Energoatom corruption case, and the bank supervisory board’s former adviser Vasyl Veselyi may have influenced the selection of supervisory board members, which was supposed to be independent.
Pyshnyy said the materials published then were not sufficient grounds for suspension. The regulator twice appealed to NABU and SAPO for confirmation or refutation of circumstances relevant to assessing the supervisory board chair’s independence, but, according to Pyshnyy, law enforcement did not disclose the materials due to pre-trial investigation restrictions. The NBU continued its own review, during which Hladyshenko recused himself from his powers.
After yesterday’s publication of new data, grounds emerged to find Hladyshenko non-compliant with the requirements. The NBU is also examining the compliance of the entire supervisory board.
“The published materials give grounds to believe that Mykola Hladyshenko’s recusal was merely formal in nature and that in fact he continued to influence the bank’s activities. The supervisory board’s inability to respond properly to this situation calls into question its members’ ability to ensure proper oversight of the bank’s operations and to effectively perform the functions assigned to them,” Andriy Pyshnyy said.