UPDATE: Anti-corruption agency searches Ukraine's central bank chief, source says

Editor's note: This story is being updated.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) on Oct. 21 searched the premises of Andriy Pyshnyi, head of the National Bank of Ukraine, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent.

The NABU said in a statement that it is "conducting searches at the National Bank of Ukraine and at the home of one of its employees."

"No one has been detained or charged," the bureau said. "No further details are being disclosed to protect the confidentiality of the pretrial investigation."

It is not clear in what case Pyshnyi is being investigated.

The National Bank of Ukraine has faced criticism for failing to prevent a Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) payment through state-owned Sense Bank allegedly funded with laundered money and posted as bail for ex-Energy and Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko in June.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's ex-Deputy Chief of Staff Iryna Mudra, Sense Bank CEO Oleksiy Stupak, the bank's former supervisory board head Mykola Hladyshchenko, and other suspects were charged in August with laundering money to post bail for Halushchenko.

Halushchenko was charged in February as part of last year’s probe into state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom — the largest corruption investigation of Zelensky’s tenure.

A person matching the description of Zelensky's Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov allegedly asked Mudra to launder cash to pay bail for Halushchenko, according to the leaked text of the charges against Mudra published by the media outlet Bihus.info on Sept. 15.

Furthermore, an alleged transcript of the Anti-Corruption Bureau's tapes leaked to the media outlet Hromadske in August contains multiple references to "Kyrylo," "Kyrylo Oleksiyovich," Mudra's unnamed boss, and a top official at the President's Office. There are also direct references to Budanov's last name in the transcripts.

In leaked transcripts of NABU tapes published in April and May, Vasyl Veselyi, a former aide to Sense Bank's supervisory board, and businessman Oleksandr Tsukerman mentioned influencing board appointments at the bank and talking to Zelensky's ex-Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak about the bank.

Sevki Acuner, former head of Sense Bank's supervisory board, said in September that Pyshnyi, head of the National Bank of Ukraine, had allegedly recommended Veselyi for a position at Sense Bank. Pyshnyi denied the allegation.

The media outlet Ekonomichna Pravda reported in September, citing its sources, that Pyshnyi and Veselyi knew each other through the late Andriy Ivanchuk, a former lawmaker who was a university classmate of Pyshnyi.