The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv has overturned the decision of the investigator of the Pecherskyi Police Department to close the criminal proceedings against Oleksandr Zyma, director of the legal department of the National Bank of Ukraine. The case was opened due to Zyma's alleged abuse of official position, UNN writes.
The case of NBU's chief lawyer Zyma
The State Bureau of Investigation initiated criminal proceedings against the NBU's chief lawyer at the end of 2023 due to alleged abuse of power or official position, which led to grave consequences. Zyma, who is also the chairman of the administrative board of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, interfered in court proceedings by sending a letter on behalf of the National Bank of Ukraine to the Fund. In the letter, he "recommended" withdrawing lawsuits filed against the National Bank. It is worth noting that the regulator's chief lawyer asked to withdraw the lawsuits of Concord Bank, filed even before the start of its liquidation process. The plaintiff in court planned to appeal fines totaling almost 63.5 million hryvnias imposed by the regulator.
The Fund followed this recommendation, which, according to the bank's co-owner Olena Sosedka, deprived the shareholders of their constitutional right to a fair trial.
Later, the investigation of the criminal proceedings was transferred to the Pecherskyi Police Department in Kyiv, whose investigators recognized the co-founders of "Concord" Olena and Yuliia Sosedka as victims. According to lawyers, the investigation thus confirmed that Oleksandr Zyma's actions caused real significant damage to the bank's shareholders.
In response to an inquiry from UNN, the police reported that during the investigation, they planned to interrogate the chief lawyer of the National Bank, after which they would consider the possibility of appealing to the court regarding his removal from office.
Experts interviewed by UNN pointed to signs of artificial delay in the investigation of this case.
The pace of the investigation also did not satisfy the Pecherskyi District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv. "The procedural supervisor sent instructions to the Pecherskyi Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv to intensify the pre-trial investigation," the agency reported in response to an inquiry from UNN.
In addition, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv also, by two rulings, obliged the investigators to intensify the investigation of the mentioned criminal proceedings. However, instead of intensifying the investigation, the case was simply closed.
Later, the investigative department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv, in response to an inquiry from UNN, confirmed that the investigator had closed the criminal proceedings regarding the alleged abuse of power or official position, which led to grave consequences, by Oleksandr Zyma. The case was closed due to the alleged absence of elements of a criminal offense in his actions. The co-founder of Concord Bank, Olena Sosedka, who was recognized as a victim in this case, told UNN in a comment that she plans to appeal the investigator's decision to close the criminal proceedings. At the same time, the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, in response to an inquiry from UNN, reported that they plan to ascertain the legality of closing the criminal proceedings against Zyma.
What did the court decide?
The ruling, which is available to UNN, states that the investigating judge considers the investigator's decision to close the criminal proceedings premature and issued "on the basis of an incomplete pre-trial investigation, without a comprehensive, full, objective examination of the data."
In particular, the investigator did not interrogate all possible witnesses in the criminal proceedings, and did not seize documents from the National Bank of Ukraine. This obviously refers to the letter itself signed by Oleksandr Zyma, which he sent to the Deposit Guarantee Fund, as well as other documents related to the revocation of Concord's banking license.
It is worth noting that the investigator himself did not appear at the court hearing.
The complaint is to be satisfied. The decision of the senior investigator of the investigative department of the Pecherskyi Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv dated 22.07.2025 on closing the criminal proceedings, entered into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations under No. 62023100110000229 dated 28.12.2023, on the grounds of a criminal offense provided for in Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, is to be canceled.
Thus, the materials of the criminal proceedings were returned to the police for investigation.
Experts interviewed by UNN have repeatedly pointed to facts that may indicate the interest of law enforcement officers in delaying the investigation of the case against the chief lawyer of the NBU and attempts to put it "on hold".