General Duka said during trial that the head of the National Bank is connected to the “Carthage” case (video)

During the court hearing on his pretrial restriction, SBU General Serhiy Duka said that the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyshnyi, allegedly visited NABU on the eve of consideration of the case. According to the “Carthage” suspect, Pyshnyi may have been instructed there not to allow funds through banks to pay bail if the court were to set such a pretrial measure. This was reported by Hlavkom quoting the suspect’s statement.

“Yesterday they summoned Pyshnyi to NABU and told him not to let my bail through. Ask Pyshnyi whether he was at NABU yesterday or not,” Duka said.

He also claimed that during a meeting with Pyshnyi they allegedly discussed what would happen to the money if the court set bail.

“What will happen to the bail if they set bail for me, what will happen next? The banks simply won’t process it. We’ve already been through this,” the general said.

Duka asked investigators to confirm or refute his claims about the alleged visit of the head of the National Bank to NABU. At the same time, he did not provide evidence that such a meeting took place or that Pyshnyi received instructions to block the payment of bail.

Note that the general’s statement is currently his personal assertion. By itself it does not indicate the National Bank head’s involvement in the investigation within the “Carthage” case.

It is worth recalling that the issue of banking control over funds deposited as bail in High Anti-Corruption Court cases flared up after a series of high-profile criminal proceedings. In particular, in August NABU and SAP reported on operation “Forrest Gump.” According to the investigation, scheme participants legalized 150 million UAH, which were later used to post bail for former minister Herman Halushchenko. The case also examines transactions carried out through the banking system.

Directly preceding the National Bank statement was the Higher Anti-Corruption Court’s decision regarding bail for former Deputy Head of the Office of the President Iryna Mudra. Her defense said that banks and payment services are refusing to carry out payments to post the court-ordered bail.

The HACC granted the defense’s complaint and ordered the National Bank to verify the banks’ refusals. The court also demanded information about letters and recommendations from the NBU to financial institutions regarding transactions with the payment purpose “bail.” After that, the regulator publicly emphasized that it had not instructed banks to automatically refuse to process such transactions.