In February 2025, journalist Vitaliy Glagola reported on the escape from Ukraine of the former head of the State Environmental Inspectorate in the Transcarpathian region, Mykhailo Bank. According to him, the former official illegally crossed the border, bypassing official checkpoints, and was detained in the village of Tysaszentmarton in Hungary, near the Ukrainian Solovki. After a short detention, the Hungarian police released Bank, and he later ended up in Cyprus.
Before his escape on February 10, 2025, Bank was transferred to the Uzhhorod District CCC, where he passed a medical examination, which found him fit for service. On February 13, he was supposed to appear in court, but on February 12, he disappeared. The Hungarian police confirmed his illegal border crossing and informed the Ukrainian side about it.
At the same time, in addition to evading mobilization, Mykhailo Bank had other reasons for fleeing. Back in January 2025, law enforcement officers conducted searches of his home and offices. These actions were carried out within the framework of criminal proceedings regarding possible abuse of office, bribery, and illicit enrichment. According to the Uzhhorod 24 publication, the security forces seized documents, electronic media, and other evidence that could be related to the illegal seizure of property.
The criminal episodes to which the Bank may be involved cover the period of his work in the police and the State Environmental Inspectorate. The SBI investigation establishes that the former official may have exerted pressure on entrepreneurs and officials in Yaremche, which allowed him to register 26 land plots with a total area of over 4.5 hectares for relatives and front persons.
One of the most famous cases related to the Bank is the construction of the Mirror Hotel in the village of Polyanytsia near Bukovel. Three plots of land with an area of 0.35 hectares, on which the complex is being built, are registered in the name of his father, deputy Vasyl Bank. The land where the construction is underway belongs to the forest fund and is featured in criminal cases of illegal privatization. The Mirror Hotel is designed for 30 rooms, has a SPA, swimming pool, gym and even a helipad. One square meter is sold for 3,500 US dollars.
According to journalistic investigations, land plots in the Vyshnia tract were transferred to private ownership in 2013–2021 due to forged documents, pressure on officials and fictitious owners. In June 2023, the court allowed the State Bureau of Investigation to inspect three plots registered to Vasyl Bank. It is there that the construction of the Mirror Hotel is underway.
The investigation into Bank's case has been ongoing for four years, but he has not yet been officially charged. Meanwhile, the family is trying to get the seizure of the land where the construction is underway lifted through the courts.
The assets of the Banks family also raise questions. The former official and his relatives own or use several houses, apartments and land plots in the Zakarpattia region. The wife, Vlasta Bank, owns a 147.7 m² apartment in Uzhhorod, several land plots and a house in the village of Onokivtsi. The family also has a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 and a Mercedes-Benz E220D, cash in dollars and hryvnias, as well as bank accounts.
For 2024, Mykhailo Bank declared 193 thousand hryvnias in salary and 243 thousand hryvnias in pension. Against the background of such income, the declared assets look disproportionate, which only strengthens suspicions of abuse.
While the State Bureau of Investigation and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau continue their investigation, and Cyprus becomes the new location of the Bank, the story of the former official is yet another example of how officials with access to state resources abused their positions for years, and after being exposed, left the country with impunity.
