The presence of criminal cases against officials of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) creates serious problems for negotiations on the provision of financial assistance to Ukraine. This opinion was expressed by Vitaliy Kulyk, director of the Center for Researching Civil Society Problems.
Our partners are not the same. This (the presence of criminal cases against NBU officials - ed.) affects the atmosphere of negotiations, and the readiness for any high-quality dialogue,
He added that during negotiations regarding the allocation of funds to Ukraine, it is important for foreign partners to feel the stability of the National Bank and the availability of guarantee mechanisms. In particular, when there is a feeling that the institution is supported by the government, negotiations progress much better and more efficiently.
If, however, international partners understand that there is staff turnover in the National Bank or a certain suspension due to criminal cases against NBU officials, according to Kulik, they will put forward stricter demands, more clearly written rules, and will bet more on commitments, on some certain external guarantee mechanisms, etc.
Such a situation also leads to the fact that international financial institutions do not want to communicate directly with the heads of structural units of the NBU, but instead rely on institutional dialogue.
On the one hand, this removes the personal, emotional factor, as they say, but on the other hand, it does not allow us to negotiate more effectively with our external partners, including creditors and donors. Because they see all our assurances or political statements as white noise and not as the result of implemented policies,
The Shevchenkiv District Court of Kyiv recognized Yulia Sosyedka, the co-founder of Concord Bank, as a victim in the criminal proceedings regarding the alleged abuse of power or official position, which led to grave consequences, by the director of the legal department of the National Bank of Ukraine, Oleksandr Zyma.
The criminal case concerns a letter from the National Bank of Ukraine to the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Individuals signed by Oleksandr Zyma, with which he recommended the Fund to withdraw the lawsuits filed by "Concord" against the NBU. The document referred to four lawsuits filed by Concord Bank against the NBU, in which the bank demanded the cancellation of fines totaling almost 63.5 million hryvnias. These lawsuits were filed even before the National Bank decided to liquidate "Concord" and introduced a temporary administration there.
Olena Sosyedka, co-founder of AKB Concord JSC, stated that the National Bank of Ukraine ignored the proposals of the shareholders of Concord Bank before its liquidation, and then they were also deprived of the right to a fair trial at the behest of the regulator.
