Ex-NBU deputy governor demands full closure of Pysaruk-Bakhmatyuk case

Former Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Oleksandr Pysaruk welcomes closure the of the case against him and Oleg Bakhmatyuk, but considers it is fair if the case was closed not only de jure, but also based on facts available to law enforcement agencies, showing that the charges are completely groundless, as reported by Ukrainian News.

In an article for the Novoye Vremya news outlet, Pysaruk

said

: "the case, despite all the legal and factual grounds for this, was closed on formal grounds rather than on merits, which, nevertheless, are also significant."

"The National Bank had to fulfill its function of ensuring financial stability in the country and defending the interests of depositors and creditors and acted completely within the framework of the law and procedures," said the banker. "In particular, during the process of deciding whether to issue a stabilization loan to VAB Bank, despite the fact that the crisis requires prompt decision-making, the team went through the necessary procedures and made a lawful decision, which is valid and still has not been contested by anyone."

"My lawyers have collected all the necessary evidence and filed it with the law enforcement authorities quite long ago, along with a motion to close the criminal case against me" Pysaruk said. "The absence of the grounds and far-fetched claims decision regarding the were confirmed by professional findings, as well as other documents collected by the defense. Closing the criminal case against me is the logical conclusion of this story. The absurdity of the accusations was clear from the very beginning of the active phase of the criminal proceedings, and therefore i'm sure there is every reason to close the case against me both for formal reasons and over the absence of any criminal deed in my actions. I expect all necessary procedural actions will take place and soon all charges against me will be finally dropped."

The case against Pysaruk and Bakhmatyuk was opened due to the alleged misuse of refinancing funds provided by the NBU to VAB Bank during the 2014 banking crisis. However, findings of examinations of the Deposit Guarantee Fund statements and by the NBU confirmed that all refinancing funds had been spent intended for their purpose, i.e. they were received by bank depositors. On June 5, Kyiv's Pechersky district court declared the resumption of the case against Bakhmatyuk by former Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaliy Kasko, a former deputy of Prosecutor General Ruslan Riaboshapka, was unlawful.