“Vasya” from NABU tapes: how Astion controls Bank “Ukrainian Capital”

As part of operation “Forrest Gump,” recordings were released about 150 million UAH for bail for former minister Herman Halushchenko. In the recordings one of the figures is “Vasya.” According to Ukrainska Pravda, this is businessman Vasyl Astion.

The SAP named his role in the organized group directly: “was responsible for the judicial support of all decisions so that courts would adopt them in the interests of the group’s participants.” Not a “cashier,” as Telegram wrote — but the judicial overseer of the Stolar-Mykytas brigade.

The international detective bureau Absolution points out something that none of the published investigations so far has said:

Vasyl Astion and his brother Yevhen, through the NVCIF “Genesis Capital,” each own 9,99% of JSC Bank “Ukrainian Capital.” Together — 19,98% of the bank.

These are official NBU data as of 31 January 2020

✔️Bielashov S.V. (family) — 44,87% (indirectly)

✔️Bielashova L.I. — 20,00%

✔️Kiva Natalia Ivanivna — 20,00%

✔️Fedorovych Y.I. — 11,40%

✔️Astion Yevhen Mykolayovych — 9,99%

✔️Astion Vasyl Mykolayovych — 9,99%

✔️Kiva Vladyslav M. — 4,13% (chairman of the bank’s board until 20.01.2020)

✔️Tikhomirova L.V. — 3,01% (business partner of Vitaliy Khomutynnik, partner of the Astions in “Kaskad-Group” and “Dnipro Agro Alliance”)

The Astions are recorded as two packages of 9,99% each, not one at 19,98%. By law “significant participation” starts at 10%. Two brothers at 9,99% each, so formally neither is “significant.” The NBU has no grounds to require approval. This is a classic circumvention of threshold regulation.

And a separate anomaly: the current ownership structure of the bank has not been publicly updated since 31.01.2020. On the NBU supervision page the today’s ultimate significant owners are listed as Bielashov, Bielashova, Zlydar, Kiva. The Astions are no longer there. But there is no official ownership-structure file in the NBU archive.

Where did 19,98% of the bank go? To whom was it sold? In the NACP declarations of the Astions for 2020–2023 the sale is not recorded.

Interestingly, at the end of 2023 the NBU canceled all licenses of LLC “FC “Fingroup Faktor” (100% owned by the Astions). Reason — “refusal to undergo an inspection.” Then the SBU Economic Protection Bureau and the GPU announced suspicion against Vasyl Astion for tax evasion, 61,4 million UAH. Judge Saidullaev (Zhovtnevyi District Court of Dnipro) reduced the bail by 61 times: from 61,4 to 1 million UAH.

Then in February 2024 the AMCU allowed the Astions through “Fingroup” to buy “DK Kaskad” and “Inter Way Capital” from Khomutynnik. Astion’s case itself was closed in March 2025 “due to expiration of the statute of limitations.”

August 2026 — NABU tapes. Astion — the judicial overseer of Stolar’s brigade.

Between 29.12.2023 and 09.01.2024 — 11 days. One state body revokes a license from a financial company. Another, after 11 days, announces suspicion of the beneficiary. A third, in 3 days, reduces the bail by 61 times. A fourth, in 30 days, allows them to buy new assets.

And all this time the brothers have — 19,98% of the bank with an NBU license. Which the NBU has not published an up-to-date ownership structure for in six years.

Questions the NBU must answer:

✔️Who are today the owners of 19,98% of JSC Bank “Ukrainian Capital,” previously registered to the Astions?

✔️When, to whom and for how much were the packages sold? Was the disposal approved by the NBU?

✔️How many suspicious transaction reports did the bank submit to the State Financial Monitoring Service in 2020–2026?

✔️Did funds related to LLC “Tetras Optima,” “Giran Construct,” “Skyt Retail,” “Pelet Service” — those through which 150 million for Halushchenko were legalized — pass through correspondent accounts?

✔️Why did the NBU decide in December 2023 to clean out “Fingroup Faktor” — but did not launch a parallel inspection of “Ukrainian Capital,” where the same beneficiaries held 20%?

“Sense Bank,” through which 150 million were officially legalized, submitted from 2025 to May 2026 over 589 aggregate materials to the State Financial Monitoring Service. Therefore Sense’s top managers — Hladyshchenko, Stupak, Snihur — were included among the figures in “Forrest Gump.” And “Ukrainian Capital” — a bank in which the Astions once owned almost a fifth, and about which the public register is silent — has still not even been mentioned.

What Astion himself said on 12 June to Ekonomichna Pravda: “I am not acquainted with Halushchenko, with his lawyers, and no one approached me with an offer to help post bail.” Two months later — his voice on the NABU tapes and the role of “judicial overseer” in the VAKS ruling.