Andriy Pyshnyi: NABU is investigating a case regarding Oschadbank’s taxes

The searches at the premises of the National Bank of Ukraine and at the residence of one of its employees, which NABU and SAP conducted on 21 October, may relate to a criminal proceeding concerning Oschadbank’s failure to pay taxes in the amount of 641,4 million UAH in 2017, when the institution was headed by Andriy Pyshnyi, reports 368.media.

According to the outlet, the matter concerns criminal proceeding No. 52025000000000150, in which Andriy Pyshnyi is named. Earlier media reports suggested the searches at the NBU might be connected to the regulator’s head, the outlet writes. Andriy Pyshnyi himself has not publicly commented on this information. There is no official confirmation in the cited materials that the investigative actions are linked to Oschadbank’s tax case.According to 368.media, the subject of the investigation is the circumstances of a tax dispute related to Oschadbank servicing the accounts of ten Cypriot companies in 2013–2016. During that period the bank serviced their deposit accounts and securities accounts, paying out income in the form of interest.The companies named include Quickpace Ltd, Sabulong Trading Ltd, Kviten Solution Ltd, Wonderbliss Ltd, Baleingate Finance Ltd, Katiema Enterprises Ltd, Foxtron Networks Ltd, Loricom Holding Group, Akemi Management Ltd and Opalcore Ltd. According to the outlet, these entities were initially linked to Serhiy Arbuzov and Serhiy Kurchenko, who are described as associates of former president Viktor Yanukovych. Later the companies came under the control of businessmen Pavlo Fuks and Oleksandr Onyshchenko.According to the tax authorities’ version, Oschadbank was supposed to act as a tax agent and withhold tax on nonresidents’ income at a rate of 15%. Instead, the case materials allege rates from 0% to 2% were applied. From 2014 to 2020 Oschadbank was headed by Andriy Pyshnyi.During a planned inspection by the Office of Large Taxpayers of the State Fiscal Service for the period from 1 July 2008 to 30 September 2016, the controlling authority found that the bank did not accrue, withhold, or remit 481 million UAH in tax to the budget. On 30 March 2017 the tax service issued notice-decision No. 0000584303, which assessed Oschadbank an additional 841,5 million UAH together with penalties.The bank appealed the tax notice-decision. According to the outlet, the fiscal department for administrative appeals prepared a draft decision to partially grant the complaint and reduce the monetary obligation to 641,4 million UAH. Thus, the subject of the subsequent dispute became the amount the bank would have to pay after the reassessment.The investigation believes that no later than 2 June 2017 officials of Oschadbank agreed on actions aimed at avoiding payment of taxes and penalties with First Deputy Head of the SFS Serhiy Bilan, Head of the Office of Large Taxpayers Yevhen Bambizov and prosecutor Kostiantyn Kulyk. According to the investigation’s version, the goal was to prevent deterioration of the bank’s financial indicators and negative consequences for the reputation of its leadership, in particular Andriy Pyshnyi. These circumstances are the investigative version and do not in themselves prove the involvement of all the persons named in the offense.

According to the case materials, Kostiantyn Kulyk, who at the time was deputy head of a department of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and the senior member of the group of prosecutors, proposed to Serhiy Bilan not to sign the prepared draft decision. On 7–8 June 2017, at the end of the administrative appeal period, the Office of the Prosecutor General seized the complaint materials within the criminal proceeding. As the investigation asserts, this created a situation in which a decision could not be made on time.Serhiy Bilan did not sign the draft. According to the outlet, the head of the administrative appeals department reminded him of the need to adopt a decision and sent a memorandum to the acting head of the SFS. However, the decision was not made within the statutory period. As a result, the bank’s complaint was automatically granted pursuant to the second paragraph of clause 56.9 of Article 56 of the Tax Code of Ukraine.According to the investigation’s version, because of this course of events the state lost the opportunity to collect 641,4 million UAH from Oschadbank. It is this sum, and not the initial 841,5 million UAH of assessments with penalties, that appears in the description of the alleged losses in the tax episode. The circumstances of the decisions’ adoption and the responsibility of specific participants must be evaluated within the criminal proceeding.In February 2025 Serhiy Bilan was notified of suspicion. He later reached a plea agreement with the investigation, which the High Anti-Corruption Court approved. The sentence, according to the publication, is classified. Materials concerning Kostiantyn Kulyk were separated into a separate proceeding No. 52025000000000150 from 12 March 2025, and in January 2026 he was notified of suspicion.According to the outlet, Kulyk left the country and is on national and international wanted lists. He is also named in another criminal proceeding under part one of Article 255 and part one of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — regarding the creation of a criminal organization and treason. The indictment in that case has already been sent to court.Andriy Pyshnyi continues to hold the position of head of the National Bank of Ukraine. At the same time, available information does not confirm that he has been notified of suspicion specifically within the proceeding concerning Oschadbank’s tax dispute. The connection of the searches on 21 October with this case, as well as Pyshnyi’s procedural status in it, require official confirmation from law enforcement authorities.