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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Former First Deputy Prosecutor General Dmytro Storozhuk, according to a publication by Anticor, is linked to the appointment of former Kharkiv region prosecutor Danylichenko to a leadership position in the security department of the state-owned Sense Bank. This information emerged against the backdrop of the criminal case “Forrest Gump,” in which NABU and the SAP are investigating the use of the banking system during the payment of a 150 million UAH bail for former Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko.
According to the publication, the personnel chain is connected to Storozhuk’s previous work at the state-owned Oschadbank. In the 2016–2019 years he was the First Deputy Prosecutor General, and after that, according to the cited information, he worked as an adviser to Oschadbank’s chairman Andriy Pyshnyi until 2023. Pyshnyi later headed the National Bank, which supervises the banking sector. The authors of the piece link this personnel context to Danylichenko’s role at Sense Bank. At the same time, there are no publicly confirmed materials showing that Storozhuk officially recommended Danylichenko for the position or that Pyshnyi approved such an appointment. Therefore these claims so far remain the source’s version, not an established fact. Against this backdrop, the scandal around the operation involving 150 million UAH has taken on special significance. NABU and the SAP announced the exposure of a scheme to legalize funds used to pay Halushchenko’s bail. According to the investigation materials, part of the money passed through Sense Bank, and law enforcement is checking possible use of banking mechanisms to circumvent financial monitoring procedures. According to published materials, 46 million UAH from Hiran Konstract LLC and another 4 million UAH from Pelet Service LLC passed through Sense Bank to pay the bail. In total 150 million UAH of the bail was formed through several financial institutions: 41 million UAH went through PUMB, 54 million UAH through OTP Bank, and another 5 million UAH through Idea Bank.
The head of the board of Sense Bank, Oleksiy Stupak, is also involved in the case. On 2 September the High Anti-Corruption Court set his bail at 15 million UAH instead of pretrial detention, which the prosecution had sought with an alternative bail of 150 million UAH. The court ordered Stupak not to leave Kyiv, to surrender his foreign passports, to wear an electronic bracelet, and not to contact other suspects in the proceeding. The National Bank is simultaneously conducting checks on compliance with financial monitoring requirements. On 24 August the regulator began unscheduled inspections of other banks, besides Sense Bank, that serviced clients connected to the payment of Halushchenko’s bail. Separately, the NBU is checking Sense Bank for possible employee interference with the operation of the automated financial monitoring system. After the criminal case, the personnel issue at Sense Bank also reached the regulator level. NBU Chair Andriy Pyshnyi stated that Stupak does not meet the qualification requirements for professional fitness. This decision concerns the bank’s manager and is not evidence of Pyshnyi’s involvement in the operations under investigation by NABU and the SAP. Sense Bank is a systemically important bank, and after its nationalization its owner became the state. That is why any questions regarding financial monitoring, corporate governance, and possible external influence matter not only for this particular criminal case but also for oversight of the state banking sector. The role of the personnel connections described in the Anticor publication remains a separate question. At present the investigation publicly links specific Sense Bank officials to operations involving 150 million UAH of bail, while the claims about a political or personnel vertical through Storozhuk, Pyshnyi, and Danylichenko require separate documentary confirmation.
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Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Дмитро Сторожук: хто привів прокурора до «кнопки» Sense Bank". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Fraza.
