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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Spanish publication Periodista Digital 17 published in August an article by journalist Manuel Trujillo about a criminal proceeding in which Ukrainian law enforcement authorities are to verify the circumstances of obtaining education by the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyschny.
The material appeared under the headline "Fake university diploma of the head of the National Bank of Ukraine? Scandal reaches Zelensky amid $54 billion in aid". Trujillo noted that this concerns more than anonymous social-media posts: after a decision of the Shevchenkivskyi district court of Kyiv, the State Bureau of Investigation is to verify information about potential use by Pyschny of documents whose legality has been questioned.
The mere fact of opening a criminal case does not prove document forgery or guilt of the head of the NBU, the author notes, but the basis for addressing law enforcement were materials of a criminal case 2007 from the year regarding officials of the Sumy branch of the "University of Modern Knowledge".
Court documents spoke of issuing academic references and other documents to people who did not actually study at the institution. The journalist recalled that Ukrainian economist Borys Kushnirokh stated that by the combination of dates and details, he identified among the recipients of such documents Pyschny. According to Kushnirokh's version, they could have allowed him to enter directly into the fourth year of the Ukrainian Academy of Banking, where 2005 in the year he earned a specialist diploma.
The Periodista Digital author raised the question of which state bodies verified Pyschny's documents before his appointment as head of the NBU. In October 2022, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, submitted his candidacy to the Verkhovna Rada, after which the appointment was supported by 290 members of parliament.
Trujillo also linked this story to trust from international partners in Ukrainian state institutions. He cited a forecast from the NBU that, according to the regulator, the amount of external budgetary support to Ukraine in 2026 could reach about $54 billion. These funds are not in the personal possession of the head of the NBU, the author emphasizes, but the regulator's leader's reputation directly affects donors' trust in the Ukrainian financial system.
The Spanish journalist also mentioned Bloomberg's publication about Zelensky's possible dissatisfaction with the work of the head of the National Bank. According to the agency, among the reasons for tension could be the regulator's strict monetary policy, his role in supporting the wartime economy, and Pyschny's public activity.
The author urged Pyschny to publish the originals of the documents, the academic case, and the results of checks, and to agree to an independent examination. In his view, Zelensky will have to choose between protecting the reputation of an independent state institution and protecting the official whose candidacy he himself submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.
"Every new day without exhaustive answers ceases to be a technical pause and becomes a political decision," the author summarized.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Іспанський журналіст написав про перевірку документів щодо освіти Пишного й поставив запитання українській владі". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
