From “Hetman” with counterfeit excise stamps to OKSI Bank: how Oleh Balyash is building a “diversified” business

From “Hetman” with counterfeit excise stamps to OKSI Bank: how Oleh Balyash is building a “diversified” business

In the business empire of Lviv entrepreneur Oleh Balyash there is room for vodka, real estate, and a bank. And along with this — for criminal proceedings against “Hetman” and multi-million hryvnias in fines for OKSI Bank over issues with financial monitoring.

This is written by Vykryvach.

Let’s start with LLC NVF “Hetman” at 10A Volynska Street in Lviv. In March 2020 of the year, a criminal case No. 12020140140000104 was opened under part 1 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Within its framework, law enforcement checked the version of production of unaccounted-for alcoholic products with counterfeit excise stamps.

In the investigative materials, brands like “Nalivayko. By will,” Monopoly, and other products appeared. Law enforcement conducted more than 25 searches, during which, according to the investigation, tens of thousands of bottles and about 2 million hryvnias in cash were found. The then-prosecutor of Lviv region Iryna Didenko publicly named the Hetman enterprise among the suspects. In the media, there was also an assessment of possible budget losses from unpaid excise — over 50 million hryvnias.

Balyash himself denied the accusations. He stated that counterfeit excise stamps were not found at the enterprise during the searches.

An important nuance: there is no conviction against Balyash in this case.

And now — OKSI Bank.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of the beginning of 2026, Oleh Balyash owned 58,705561% of the bank’s shares, and his wife Oksana Balyash — 20,83333%. Together this is over 79,5% of the shares. Other owners of large stakes include Ihor Fisun, Oleksandr Arkhypov, Volodymyr Yaremtsio, and Oleksandr Zhuk.

In other words, the diversification scheme is as broad as possible: an alcohol plant, real estate, and his own bank. And while there were questions for the alcohol business from law enforcement, the bank faced issues from the country’s main financial regulator.

In December 2023, the NBU fined OKSI Bank 20,051 million hryvnias for violations of laws in the area of financial monitoring. In the bank’s financial statements, it is noted that the penalty was paid in 19 December 2023 year.

This story did not end there.

In August 2024, OKSI Bank received another fine from the NBU — 10,051 million hryvnias. This time the regulator also pointed to problems with applying a risk-based approach and client verification.

As a result, just from these two fines, the bank had to pay more than 30 million hryvnias.

And a quite logical question arises: how effectively did the banking system of financial monitoring work if the regulator had to penalize the institution twice in a row by tens of millions of hryvnias?

Meanwhile, OKSI Bank itself continues to operate, and Balyash remains its largest shareholder. So the business model indeed looks “diversified”: one line connected to alcohol production and an old criminal case, another — a bank that received multi-million penalties from the NBU for violations of financial monitoring.

And this again shows a simple truth: when a businessman simultaneously owns a factory, real estate, and a bank, problems in one business do not mean the entire system stops.