The silence of the lambs or cases of NBU officials Oleksandr Zyma and Pavlo Polarush

The Ukrainian government system often suffers from a lack of accountability of high-ranking officials who abuse their powers. This problem is particularly acute for financial institutions, where unlimited power combined with low accountability leads to systemic violations and corruption. Vivid examples of such impunity are the situations with officials of the National Bank of Ukraine, such as Pavlo Polarush and Oleksandr Zyma, UNN writes.

Threats to the military are still unanswered 

Despite public demands, the leadership of the National Bank of Ukraine continues to keep silent about the conflict between military officer Andriy Tratsevsky and Pavlo Polarush, head of the NBU's Department for Work with Problem Assets. 

As you know, Belarusian volunteer Andrei Tratsevsky (Bezsmertny) said that he was threatened by 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 the 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 said in front of law enforcement officers 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 Kyiv police told UNN that they had opened criminal proceedings under the articles "threatening to kill" and "inflicting light bodily harm" and drew up a report against Polarush for driving under the influence. In addition, law enforcement officers confirmed that they had seized a weapon 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  during off-hours.

In order to calm down the outraged Ukrainians, the NBU added that it would conduct an internal investigation. However, no condemnation of the situation was expressed.

More than two weeks have passed since then, and the National Bank's leadership continues to remain silent, although Ukrainians are bombarding it with questions about the results of the internal audit. For example, on the Facebook page of NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi.

At the same time, a well-known blogger and volunteer Igor Lashchenkov suggested that the NBU leadership covers Pavel Polyarush.

"The NBU and the head of the NBU continue to cover up the award and keep silent about the internal investigation. Mr. Andriy Pyshnyi, when will there be a reaction, because this is already very bad, where is at least some communication?" he wrote on his Telegram channel.

In addition, journalists have previously found out that Polarush has repeatedly traveled abroad since the start of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the journalists reported that in November 2022 he received permission to travel outside the country from the odious former deputy defense minister, 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 case of winter "in the Cold"

The conflict involving Polarush is not the only situation that requires a response from the NBU leadership. For more than a year now, there has been no communication from the regulator or its head, Andriy Pyshnyi, regarding the criminal proceedings against Oleksandr Zyma, director of the NBU's legal department, for possible 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 Concorde demanded to cancel fines totaling almost UAH 63.5 million. They were filed even before the National Bank decided to liquidate Concorde and put it into temporary administration.  

The DGF followed the recommendation it received on behalf of the regulator. The letter contained a digital signature of Oleksandr Zyma, who is also the chairman of the Deposit Guarantee Fund's Administrative Board, which appoints and dismisses its management.

In this way, Zyma may have called into question the independence of the Deposit Guarantee Fund's management, which now has a negative impact on cooperation with international financial institutions. After all, 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. By the way, according to media reports, it was Pavlo Polarush who was the main contender for the position of the Fund's Managing Director.

In addition, according to Concorde co-owner Olena Sosedka, Zima deprived the bank's shareholders of their constitutional right to a fair trial by his instructions. 

Now the case of winter has been transferred from the state Bureau of Investigation to the Pechersk Police Department of Kiev. Law enforcement officers told UNNthat they plan to determine the circle of victims , as well as interrogate the chief lawyer of the National Bank. Also, after serving Zima with a notice of suspicion, investigators will apply to the court to remove him from his duties as director of the NBU's legal department.

It is worth noting that in the situation with Zyma, the National Bank's management is not only silent, but does not even conduct an internal investigation. Moreover, the experts interviewed by UNN suggest that there is political influence and attempts to delay the investigation in order to eventually "merge" the criminal proceedings altogether. 

"Our NBU was headed by a person who was the head of Oschadbank, who never spoiled us with his good work results. A bank that was always on the verge of bankruptcy, and the state simply asked it (financed it – Ed.) , and a person with such professional phenomena headed the NBU. So what do we want? Now all subordinates, and the chief lawyer is a person who is close to the head, perform his tasks personally. Therefore, he is protected, he (Zima – ED.) is protected in advance, because he works in a system that is built for corruption tasks, and under certain obligations in his address that he will be protected from persecution," said security specialist Sergey Shabovta.

The scandals involving Zyma and Polarush demonstrate a deep crisis in the NBU's governance system. In fact, the lack of accountability for their actions allows high-ranking officials to evade punishment for abuse of office. This negatively affects Ukraine's international image and undermines confidence in its financial institutions.

It is possible that both in the conflict with the military and in the situation with the criminal prosecution, the National Bank is following a well-trodden path and protecting its own. We will probably soon read an official statement from the NBU management that an internal audit revealed that Polarush is a valuable and indispensable employee and that he has been stripped of his monthly bonus as punishment. And in the situation with Zyma, the National Bank will pretend that nothing is happening until the end. This approach can only be changed by public pressure and wide publicity.