Selective Justice: How the Case of NBU Chief Lawyer Oleksandr Zyma Was Closed
Kyiv • UNN
The proceedings against Oleksandr Zyma, the chief lawyer of the NBU, were closed after almost two years of inaction. This happened despite the fact that the co-founders of Concord Bank were recognized as victims in the case of abuse of office.
The editorial office of UNN has learned that the investigator has closed the criminal proceedings in which Oleksandr Zyma, the chief lawyer of the National Bank of Ukraine, was involved. This happened after almost two years of complete procedural silence, despite the fact that the co-founders of Concord Bank, Olena and Yulia Sosedka, were officially recognized as victims in the case.
Back in 2023, criminal proceedings were opened against Zyma under Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – abuse of power with grave consequences. It is about the fact that the chief lawyer of the NBU, Oleksandr Zyma, while simultaneously holding the position of head of the administrative board of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, on behalf of the National Bank, sent a letter with a "recommendation" to withdraw the lawsuits of Concord Bank against the NBU itself, which the bank filed even before the start of its liquidation. The lawsuits concerned the appeal of fines totaling over 63 million hryvnias imposed on Concord before the liquidation procedure began.
The "recommendation" letter actually deprived the bank's shareholders of the right to a fair trial. This was the reason for opening criminal proceedings. However, even despite the officially established status of victims - Olena and Yulia Sosedka, there were no procedural movements in the case for almost two years. The police actually ignored these criminal proceedings. And this is in a case with an obvious conflict of interest and direct harm to investors. The editorial office of UNN has already sent official inquiries to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the National Police of Ukraine to find out on what grounds the case was closed.
In addition, Denys Nevyadiomskyi, president of the All-Ukrainian Association of Retired Judges, commenting on the situation with Zyma's case for UNN, drew attention to systemic problems in the work of investigative bodies, which may explain why even high-profile cases involving top-level figures, such as the chief lawyer of the NBU, freeze in silence for years.
The quality of investigation and procedural guidance in Ukraine has significantly decreased over the past 10 years. In addition, during martial law, according to Article 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the terms of pre-trial investigation for unsolved crimes are suspended, which allows pre-trial investigation bodies to abuse their powers and delay or not investigate the case at all. Given the subject of the crime (ed. the chief lawyer of the NBU), the speed and quality of the investigation depends on the "state interest", that is, whether there is a "command from above" to delay or speed up the investigation.
Against this background, it looks even more absurd that Oleksandr Zyma still holds the position of director of the NBU's legal department, the very one he used, according to the investigation, to implement the illegal scheme.
It should be recalled that the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv twice obliged investigators to intensify the investigation, and the prosecutor's office sent a separate submission regarding the inaction of investigative bodies. However, as events show, the investigator's decision to close the case still took place despite the presence of victims, despite the scale of losses, and despite the public outcry.
This is another high-profile example of how even the most obvious grounds for investigation and justice disappear in the shadow of bureaucracy, procedural "pauses" and, probably, the influence of top-level officials.