PUMB

NBU Fine, Monopoly via AMCU, and Owner's Links to Organized Crime

In 2023, the NBU fined PUMB 10.9 million UAH for violations found during an unscheduled inspection as part of assessing banks' resilience during wartime. When in 2005 Akhmetov's SCM bought 50% of PUMB's shares from foreign shareholders, international financial institutions — IFC, EBRD, and DEG — preferred to exit the bank: they were wary of the new partner "from the troubled '90s," who supported Yanukovych in the controversial 2004 elections.

An investigation by "Schemes" found that Akhmetov's Metinvest holding monopolized the coke chemistry market by misleading the AMCU: when purchasing the plant, the regulator was not informed that the main competitor "Yuzhkoks" had effectively been under Metinvest's control since early 2019. In 2011, former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Hennadiy Moskal publicly stated that in 2005, on President Yushchenko's orders, he investigated Akhmetov's alleged involvement in organized crime.