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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Regarding both, a criminal proceeding is ongoing for signs of state treason. This is written by journalist Olena Melnyk in her blog on the site of the Ukrainian News information agency, who laid out by chronology the stories connected with one of the country’s most influential investment bankers. Separately these episodes seemUnrelated, but together they form a personal handwriting: work on the edge of the law, where big money meets politics. And with a slight taste of the Russian spirit.
ICU was founded in 2006 year by Valeriya Honcharova with her husband; Pasenyuk joined in 2009 year. Gossip says it was not without family protection: Pasenyuk is the son-in-law of Vira Ulyanchenko, who that same year headed the Secretariat of Viktor Yushchenko. Coincidence? Of course, everything coincides in our country. It was then that ICU began serving the business interests of Petro Poroshenko. After his move to Bankovaya, the company transformed into a recruitment agency with VIP service. Honcharova headed the NBU, Oleksandr Zhyvotovskyi headed the NRCZI, and Dmytro Vovk headed the NRCEP, where under his leadership the Rotterdam+ formula was approved. For others they found places in the Avangard bank, whose beneficiaries, according to YouControl, include Pasenyuk and Stetsenko. We don’t abandon our own.
The loudest story unfolded after the full-scale invasion. About 10,7 billion hryvnias in government savings bonds and deposit certificates of the former Sberbank were to go to the state, but were stuck in ICU and Avangard. The funds were arrested, which formally prohibited handling the papers. Meanwhile the Ministry of Finance redeemed the OVDP, and ICU invested money in NBU deposit certificates at 23% per year and earned 850 million hryvnias. An arrest that yields income is something even Wall Street did not invent. From this income, Avangard paid Pasenyuk and Stetsenko 580 million hryvnias in bonuses for the two of them. Truly efficient management in its pure form.
The NBU in 2023 year recognized both as professionally unfit and removed them from the bank’s supervisory board. In spring 2025 year this decision regarding Pasenyuk was upheld by the Supreme Court. The Cabinet via the Ministry of Justice demands the ICU, Avangard, and the co-owners themselves to pay almost 2,2 billion hryvnias for the delay in transferring assets.
An episode with a notable “Russian scent.” In 2018 year, in the fifth year of the war, Cyprus-based Xomeric Holdings connected with ICU purchased 16,62% Burger King Russia from the state-owned VTB Bank structure. After the deal, it became the largest shareholder of the network with a stake of about 35%. The price was 4,6 billion rubles, or about 75 million dollars. An investment banker, whose profession is assessing political risks, knowingly ordered a double Russian “cutlet.” After 2022 year ICU announced an exit, but in 2023 year, according to the BBC, the stake remained in place. In September 2025 year the network was re-registered in Kaliningrad, and a year later earned 421 million rubles. Whether the package was sold remains unknown.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Кадри для влади та мільйони з російським душком: що відомо про справу співвласника ICU Макара Пасенюка". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Aktsenty.
