For the third month, the court cannot consider the appeal against the closure of the case against the chief lawyer of the NBU, Zyma: the lawyer named the reasons

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv has been unable to consider the victims' complaint against the investigator's decision to close the criminal proceedings against Oleksandr Zyma, director of the legal department of the National Bank of Ukraine, for the third month because the police do not provide the court with the case materials. As former Deputy Prosecutor General, lawyer Oleksiy Bahanets explained to UNN, such a situation may indicate the interest of law enforcement officers or have signs of illegal influence on them.

There can be many reasons. Maybe they lost the materials and don't want to admit it. Maybe they are really not interested in providing them, because a decision may be made that is not in their interests. Maybe someone is influencing them not to comply with the court's requirements. There can be many reasons and pretexts not to do this.

According to the lawyer, if investigators do not comply with the court's requirements to provide materials of criminal proceedings, they must be held accountable. This is within the competence of the presiding judge in the trial.

He has a whole arsenal. If someone does not appear at a summons, for example, the same applies to applying a coercive measure. Impose an administrative penalty for non-compliance with court requirements. There is a whole arsenal there. Every judge knows how to proceed, if, of course, he is interested (in the case moving forward - ed.)

Let's add

Earlier, the Investigation Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv, in response to a UNN request, confirmed that the investigator had closed the criminal proceedings regarding the alleged abuse of power or official position that caused serious consequences by Oleksandr Zyma. The case was closed due to the alleged absence of elements of a criminal offense in his actions. Olena Sosedka, co-founder of Concord Bank, who was recognized as a victim in this case, told UNN 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 a UNN request, reported that they plan to clarify the legality of closing the criminal proceedings against Zyma.

Recall

The State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case against the chief lawyer of the NBU at the end of 2023 due to alleged abuse of power or official position that caused serious consequences. Zyma, who is also the head of the administrative council 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 chief lawyer of the regulator 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 shareholders of their constitutional right to a fair trial.

Later, the investigation of the criminal proceedings was transferred to the Pechersk Police Department in Kyiv, whose investigators recognized Concord's co-founders Olena and Yulia Sosedka as victims. According to lawyers, the investigation thus confirmed that Oleksandr Zyma's actions caused real significant damage to the bank's shareholders.

The police, in response to a UNN request, reported that during the investigation they plan to interrogate the chief lawyer of the National Bank, and then consider the possibility of appealing to the court regarding his suspension 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 suit the Pechersk District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv. "The procedural prosecutor sent instructions to the Pechersk Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv to intensify the pre-trial investigation," the agency told UNN in response to a request.

In addition, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv also, by two rulings, obliged investigators to intensify the investigation of the mentioned criminal proceedings. However, instead of intensifying the investigation, the case was simply closed.