National Bank of Ukraine Governor Andriy Pyshnyy has not submitted a resignation letter amid the searches carried out today at the NBU’s premises. LB sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported this. The NBU also said it officially refutes rumours of Andriy Pyshnyy’s alleged resignation.
In the morning, NABU officially confirmed that investigative actions were being conducted at the National Bank and at the home address of one employee, without disclosing details. Sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda and Schemes reported that the searches concerned the NBU governor himself.
What exactly the case concerns is not publicly known. NABU said no one has been served with a notice of suspicion and no one has been detained.
In August this year, Andriy Pyshnyy was invited to the Verkhovna Rada to deliver a report regarding a state bank’s involvement in a corruption case being investigated by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
That same month, Bloomberg, citing sources, wrote that the authorities had discussed dismissing Andriy Pyshnyy. LB sources confirmed this, stressing that as of 13 August the resignation of the National Bank’s head was no longer being considered.
Case background
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 a corruption case involving Energoatom. Part of the funds were channelled through Sense Bank — the former Russian Alfa-Bank, which became state-owned as a result of nationalisation. To move the funds, automatic financial monitoring was switched off, and it was not carried out manually either.
NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy, after NABU published information about the 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 compliance review of Hladyshenko and opened administrative proceedings. At the time, journalists reported that Zuckerman, 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 that the materials made public then were not sufficient grounds for suspension. The regulator twice approached NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office 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 exercising his powers.
After new data were published, grounds emerged to find Hladyshenko non-compliant with the requirements. The NBU also examined the compliance of the entire supervisory board.