Anti-corruption agents target Ukrainian central bank chief – media

Anti-corruption investigators are reportedly targeting the head of Ukraine’s central bank, Andrey Pyshny, in a series of searches.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) confirmed on Wednesday that its detectives were searching the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the residence of one of its employees. The agency, seen as a Western-backed beach-head for tackling rampant corruption in Ukraine, neither confirmed nor denied media reports that Pyshny was involved.

Pyshny was identified by several opposition MPs and law enforcement sources cited by Ukrainskaya Pravda and the US-funded Ukrainian branch of RFE/RL. Both outlets have a track record of obtaining insider information from NABU.

The central bank chief was previously mentioned in the Ukrainian press as a possible person of interest in the so-called Forest Gump case, a NABU investigation into the alleged laundering of money intended to cover bail for former Energy Minister German Galushchenko.

The anti-corruption agency accused Irina Mudraya, then-deputy head of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s office, of improperly influencing state-owned Sense Bank to conceal the origins of millions of dollars in cash. She was subsequently dismissed.

Vadim Vesyoly, a former adviser to the bank’s supervisory board, has been described by Ukrainian media as an informal overseer influencing its decisions on behalf of Zelensky’s inner circle. Pyshny has denied allegations that he arranged Vesyoly’s appointment in 2023, shortly after the bank was nationalized. Vesyoly’s formal advisory role ended last year, although some Ukrainian outlets claim he continued to wield influence.

Vesyoly’s name surfaced in surveillance recordings linked to Timur Mindich, a longtime associate of Zelensky. Last November, Mindich was accused of masterminding a $100 million kickback scheme involving the state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom.

After Mindich fled Ukraine, Sense Bank and Vesyoly reportedly began dealing directly with Zelensky’s office, allegedly enabling Mudraya to carry out the money-laundering operation. Galushchenko, the former minister whose bail was allegedly financed with dirty money, is also a suspect in the Mindich case.

In surveillance recordings leaked to Ukrainskaya Pravda, Vesyoly and one of Mindich’s alleged accomplices can be heard discussing appointments to Sense Bank’s supervisory board and a potential takeover of Karpatneftekhim, a major petrochemical complex in western Ukraine.

MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, one of the lawmakers who first publicized Wednesday’s searches, claimed NABU detectives were pursuing leads concerning Vesyoly’s involvement with Sense Bank and Karpatneftekhim at the central bank.