Over the past year, the National Bank of Ukraine has seen several high-profile scandals involving misconduct by its officials. However, the NBU leadership is trying to pretend that nothing is happening. Political analyst Taras Zahorodnyi noted in an exclusive commentary to UNN that due to lack of control, the National Bank is trying to hush up everything and not respond not only to violations by the regulator's officials but also to violations in the banking system as a whole.
Abuse of power
For almost a year now, there has been no response from the regulator or its head, Andriy Pyshnyi, to the criminal proceedings against Oleksandr Zyma, director of the NBU's legal department, for alleged abuse of power and office, which led to serious consequences.
The case was opened due to letter from Zyma to the Deposit Guarantee Fund. In the document, Zyma, who is also the chief lawyer of the National Bank and the chairman of the Administrative Council of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, recommended on behalf of the National Bank that the Deposit Guarantee Fund withdraw the lawsuits filed by Concord Bank against the National Bank of Ukraine.
It was about four lawsuits in which Concord demanded to cancel fines totaling almost 63.5 million Hryvnia. They were submitted even before the National Bank decided to liquidate Concord and introduced a temporary administration there.
The Foundation followed the recommendation it received on behalf of the regulator. The letter contained a digital signature of Oleksandr Zyma.
Currently, Zyma's case has been transferred from the SBI to the Pechersk Police Department of Kyiv for investigation. Law enforcement officials reported to UNN that they plan to identify the victims and interrogate the chief lawyer of the National Bank. Also, after serving Zyma with a notice of suspicion, investigators will file a petition with the court to remove him from his duties as director of the NBU's legal department.
By his actions, Zyma, who also chairs the Administrative Board of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, could have called into question the independence of the Fund's management, which now has a negative impact on interaction with international financial institutions. It is possible that, for example, the IMF, due to its dissatisfaction with the situation, began to actively demand that Ukraine develop a procedure and hold an open competition for the position of the DGF Managing Director.
Disrespect and threats to the military
According to media reports, the main contender for the position of managing director of the Fund was the head of the Department for work with distressed assets of the NBU Pavel Polarush. This official of the National Bank recently became a participant in a conflict with the military, and this is another example of how the regulator's management does not respond to violations of its subordinates.
In particular, Belarusian volunteer Andrei Tratsevsky (Bezsmertny) stated that he was threatened by a drunk Pavel Poliarush. The incident occurred on the road near one of the capital's residential complexes. According to him, the NBU official jumped in front of the military, blocked traffic, started fighting and said that he would shoot him in the legs with his award weapon. Polarush denied everything. Another video published by the military shows that police officers inspecting Polarush's car found an object that looked like a gun. According to Tratsevsky, Poliarush allegedly said that he would "buy everyone" and told the police that "all Belarusian volunteers will either go back to Belarus or kneel in Pokrovsk." Videos of the incident went viral on social media and caused outrage among users. They demanded a reaction from the NBU leadership to the incident.
The Kiev police UNN reported that they opened criminal proceedings under the articles "threat to kill" and "causing minor bodily harm", and also drew up a protocol against Polarush for driving under the influence of alcohol. In addition, law enforcement officers confirmed that they seized weapons from the official.
The National Bank of Ukraine limited itself to a brief statement hinting that Polarush would not be prosecuted because the "incident" in which he was involved was "not related to the performance of professional duties" and occurred outside of working hours. The NBU also promised to conduct an internal investigation. That was the end of the regulator's communication with the public. The NBU management did not express any condemnation or regret over the incident, nor did it report on the results of the internal investigation.
It is worth noting that earlier journalists found outthat Polarush repeatedly traveled abroad after the start of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the journalists reported that in November 2022, he received permission to leave the country from the odious former Deputy Minister of Defense, who is currently a suspect in corruption crimes. The permit was allegedly issued to Polarush to travel abroad in an elite Lexus car to receive humanitarian aid. However, it is still not known on what grounds Polarush traveled abroad from February to November 2022.
The main thing is not to get involved in the discussion
No less vivid example of how the NBU leadership hides its head in the sand during scandals is the situation with the deputy head of the regulator Kateryna Rozhkova.
The Cassation economic Court as part of the Supreme Court put an end to the litigation between the individuals ' Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) and the former management of Platinum Bank, which was declared insolvent in 2017.
Rozhkova was among the ten defendants in the case. Before being appointed to the National Bank, she worked as a member of the bank's board.
According to the court's decision, the defendants must compensate UAH 1.5 billion in damages caused to Platinum Bank by issuing non-performing loans (NPLs). The funds, according to of Rozhkova's declaration, are to be debited from her accounts.
Despite the court's decision, which actually decided that Rozhkova also committed violations that caused enormous losses, she continues to work at the National Bank of Ukraine and decide the fate of other financial institutions.
That is, in this case, as well as in other scandals involving Rozhkova, the National Bank's management sees no problems.
Moreover, NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi did not consider it necessary to communicate this situation with the public, let alone explain it to MPs. In particular, according to media reports, during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, one of the committee members asked Pyshnyi whether it was correct that Rozhkova continued to work in her position after the Supreme Court's decision.
Pyshnyi replied: "I would not dive into discussing this issue now." That's all we heard from the NBU governor about the Rozhkova situation.
System is rotten from the inside
Political analyst Taras Zahorodnyi believes that this reaction of the National Bank's leadership to the scandals involving its subordinates, or rather the lack of reaction, is due to the fact that the regulator is "an absolutely uncontrolled structure.
"The NBU behaves as if the laws are not written for it at all. Because there is no fruitful work of law enforcement agencies, and the NBU is trying to hush up everything and not respond not only to violations directly in the NBU, but also in the banking system as a whole. So I'm not surprised. They don't even suspend people for at least the duration of the investigation! Well, I don't see anything surprising here, unfortunately, this system just rotted from the inside," Zagorodny said.
Security expert Serhiy Shabovta admits that due to political influence, they will try to "leak" the cases against NBU officials, including Oleksandr Zyma.
"The NBU is headed by a person who was the head of Oschadbank, which has never spoiled us with its good performance. A bank that was always on the verge of bankruptcy, and the state simply propped it up (financed it - ed.), and a person with such professional experience became the head of the NBU. What do we want? Now all the subordinates, and the chief lawyer is a person who is close to the chairman, are personally fulfilling his tasks. That's why he is protected, he (Zyma - ed.) is protected in advance, because he works in a system that is built for corruption, and under certain obligations to him that he will be protected from persecution," he said.