Half a million a month during the war: how the NBU's chief lawyer lives while the military raises money for drones

The Verkhovna Rada decided to consider the fairness of officials' salaries during the war. The Parliament will consider an initiative to introduce a limit on the salaries of civil servants. But even if the initiative comes into force, it is unlikely to affect those who have long lived outside the bounds of justice. Oleksandr Zyma, director of the legal department of the National Bank, received 475 thousand hryvnias in September alone. And this is despite an open criminal case against him for possible abuse of power, writes UNN.

High salaries of officials: what the Rada thinks

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, together with the head of the VR Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev, initiated the establishment of a limit on officials' salaries - UAH 80,000. The corresponding amendment was submitted to the draft state budget for 2026.

I am convinced that in the conditions of martial law, justice is the most important element of the social contract. That is why I believe that for the duration of the war, the burden of financing defense needs should be fairly distributed.

At the same time, he noted that the restriction would not apply to persons involved in measures to ensure national security and defense.

How much does the NBU's chief lawyer earn?

According to the declarations of the director of the legal department of the National Bank of Ukraine, he received an impressive salary in September alone.

Payments were made in two tranches. On September 15, he received an advance of 158,400 hryvnias. The second tranche was a payment of salary in the amount of 316,933 hryvnias on September 30. Thus, in September alone, the chief lawyer of the NBU received 475,333 hryvnias in salary.

In total, for example, last year Oleksandr Zyma received 6,198,238 hryvnias in salary.

With these funds, it would be possible to purchase 330 FPV kamikaze drones "Malyuk 8 REB-resistant" BattleBorn. So, obviously, it is difficult to talk about justice when the military regularly asks volunteers to collect donations for drones, and the salary of one official could cover the needs of any unit on the line of combat contact.

Criminal case against Oleksandr Zyma

Even more interesting is that a criminal proceeding was opened against Zyma for an official crime. 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, which led to grave consequences. Zyma, who is also the chairman of the administrative council of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, intervened 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 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 complied with this recommendation, which, according to the co-owner of the bank Olena Sosedka, deprived the shareholders of their constitutional right to a fair trial.

Later, the investigation of the criminal proceeding was transferred to the Pechersk police department in Kyiv, whose investigators recognized the co-founders of "Concord" 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, after which they will 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 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," they said in the department in response to a UNN request.

In addition, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv also, by two rulings, obliged the investigators to intensify the investigation of the mentioned criminal proceeding. However, instead of intensifying the investigation, the case was simply closed. Currently, the victims are trying to appeal the decision to close the criminal proceeding against Zyma, the next court hearing is scheduled for 11:00 on October 14.