Searches underway at premises linked to Ukrainian National Bank's governor, sources say
Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) are conducting searches at premises linked to Andrii Pyshnyi, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources
Details: On 19 August, NABU and SAPO released details of the Operation Forest Gump investigation into a criminal group that had organised a money-laundering scheme to pay bail for Herman Halushchenko, former energy and justice minister. The state-owned Sense Bank was used for this purpose.
On 20 August, the anti-corruption agencies released details of the second part of the investigation, entitled Femida (Themis), concerning how the same criminal group had orchestrated the illegal seizure of properties and businesses in Kyiv.
On 2 September, the National Bank found Sense Bank CEO Oleksii Stupak did not meet the professional suitability requirements for his position and demanded that he be replaced.
Meanwhile, appointments to the bank's management and the formation of its supervisory board were overseen by Vasyl Veselyi, the government's behind-the-scenes power broker at Sense Bank. Officially, he held the position of adviser to the bank's head.
The Operation Midas recordings captured a conversation between Oleksandr Tsukerman and Vasyl Veselyi. Figures implicated in the Midas case had discussed the composition of the supervisory board of state-owned Sense Bank more than a month before members of the board were appointed on 18 June 2025.
Former Sense Bank Supervisory Board chairman Şevki Acuner told a temporary parliamentary commission of inquiry that Veselyi had been appointed to Sense Bank on the recommendation of NBU Governor Andrii Pyshnyi.
Sources in political circles told Ekonomichna Pravda that Pyshnyi and Veselyi knew each other through Andrii Ivanchuk, a late MP from the People's Front faction who had studied at university with the current NBU governor.
Pyshnyi himself said he had not made any recommendations to the Sense Bank Supervisory Board regarding the appointment of Veselyi, a figure in the investigations.
Update: NABU reported at 10:40 that searches have been carried out at the NBU and at an employee's home.
No one has been detained.
The NBU also confirmed the searches and noted that the institution continues to operate as usual.
Background: It was reported in August that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was dissatisfied with National Bank Governor Andrii Pyshnyi and that the possibility of his dismissal had already been discussed.
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