Searches at Pyshnyi may relate to a tax scheme at Oschadbank worth 640 million hryvnias

NABU and SAP said that on 21 October they carried out searches at the NBU premises and at the residence of one of the employees. Media spread information that it concerns the head of the regulator, Andriy Pyshnyi. He himself did not comment on this.

As reported by the editorial team of 368.media, claims against Pyshnyi may concern not only Karpatnaftokhim and SensBank. There is another case being investigated by NABU in which Pyshnyi is involved (case no. 52025000000000150).

During the years 2013–2016, Oschadbank serviced deposit accounts and securities accounts of ten Cyprus offshore companies:

Quickpace Ltd

Sabulong Trading Ltd

Kviten Solution Ltd

Wonderbliss Ltd

Baleingate Finance Ltd

Katiema EnterprisesL td

Foxtron Networks Ltd

Loricom Holding Group

Akemi Management Ltd

Opalcore Ltd

Initially they were linked to the 'wallets' of Yanukovych: Serhiy Arbuzov and Serhiy Kurchenko. Later they came under the control of businessmen Pavlo Fuks and Oleksandr Onyshchenko. The bank paid them income in the form of interest and, as a tax agent, was required to withhold and remit to the budget the tax on nonresident income at a rate of 15%. Instead, it applied a reduced rate — from 0 to 2%.

As a result of a scheduled inspection by the Office of Large Taxpayers of the SFS (period from 1 July 2008 to 30 September 2016), it was established that the bank did not accrue, withhold, or pay tax in the amount of 481 million UAH. On 30 March 2017 the OLVPP of the SFS issued tax assessment decision No. 0000584303, which assessed the bank at 841,5 million UAH including penalties.

Andriy Pyshnyi was the head of Oschadbank in the years 2014–2020. The bank appealed this. At the same time, the fiscal department for administrative appeals prepared a draft decision under which the bank's monetary obligation would have been reduced to 641,4 million UAH, and the complaint would have been partially satisfied.

According to the investigation, no later than 2 June 2017, officials of Oschadbank conspired with First Deputy Head of the SFS Serhiy Bilan, head of the Office of Large Taxpayers of the SFS Yevhen Bambizov, and prosecutor Kostyantyn Kulyk. The goal — to avoid paying taxes and fines so as not to spoil the bank's financial indicators and not to undermine the reputation of its leadership.

Kulyk, who at the time held the position of deputy head of the GPU department and was the senior member of the group of prosecutors, suggested to Bilan not to sign the ready draft decision. Instead, on the last day of the deadline (7–8 June 2017) the Prosecutor General's Office, via a criminal proceeding, seized all materials related to the complaint. This created the appearance that the decision could not be made for objective reasons.

Bilan did not sign the draft. The director of the administrative appeals department reminded him about the deadline and even sent a memorandum to the acting head of the SFS, but the decision was never made. As a result, the complaint was automatically satisfied in favor of the bank (para. 2 subpara. 56.9 art. 56 of the Tax Code of Ukraine). The state lost the right to claim 641,4 million UAH.

Serhiy Bilan was notified of suspicion in February 2025, entered into a plea agreement with the investigation which the High Anti-Corruption Court approved (the verdict is classified). Materials regarding Kulyk were separated into a separate proceeding No. 52025000000000150 from 12 March 2025. He was informed of suspicion in January 2026. Kulyk fled abroad and has been placed on national and international wanted lists. He is also involved in another case under part 1 of art. 255 and part 1 of art. 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (creation of a criminal organization and treason), where the indictment is already in court. Pyshnyi still holds his position at the NBU.