A widening regulatory probe is examining transactions that passed through several banks, while one institution faces additional scrutiny over its internal systems.
The National Bank of Ukraine has launched unscheduled inspections of banks that provided services to clients linked to the payment of bail for former Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko.
The regulator is determining whether the financial institutions complied with financial monitoring laws while carrying out the relevant transactions.
What the NBU is investigating
Inspections of other banks began on August 24. The National Bank is examining the servicing of clients who, according to materials made public by the NABU and SAPO, transferred funds to the account of the High Anti-Corruption Court to pay the bail.
The NBU is not disclosing the names or number of banks subject to the inspections.
What is known about the Herman Halushchenko case
The NABU and SAPO announced that they had uncovered a scheme to launder funds intended to pay Herman Halushchenko’s bail. The amount involved is UAH 150 million.
The investigation materials name Mykola Hladyshenko, chairman of the supervisory board of Sense Bank, and Oleh Stupak, chairman of Sense Bank’s management board. According to the investigators, the bail funds may have been laundered through Sense Bank.
Inspection of Sense Bank
On August 21, the NBU also launched an unscheduled inspection of Sense Bank. The regulator is determining whether the bank’s automated system was interfered with during transactions related to the bail.
That same day, the National Bank demanded that Lyudmyla Snihur be suspended from her position at Sense Bank. The decision was carried out on August 25: the director of the financial monitoring department was temporarily suspended, and her access to the corporate network and all banking systems was blocked.
In addition, Peter Novak, a former top executive at Raiffeisen Bank, was appointed as a new independent member of the supervisory board of state-owned Sense Bank.
Thus, the NBU is inspecting not only Sense Bank but also other financial institutions through which transfers related to the payment of Herman Halushchenko’s bail may have passed.