Sense Bank appoints new board member after corruption probe
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Sense Bank appointed a new independent member to its supervisory board a week after anti-corruption investigators accused the bank’s CEO, Oleksiy Stupak, and former supervisory board chairman Mykola Hladyschenko of helping launder illicit funds through the bank.
On Aug. 24, Peter Novak, a Slovak with 25 years of experience in the IT and banking sectors, replaced Hladyschenko as an independent member after he was officially dismissed from his position on Aug. 21 by the government due to his suspected involvement in the scheme.
"The international banking experience of the new independent member will strengthen the Supervisory Board of JSC ‘Sense Bank’ and contribute to the further development of corporate governance and the preparation of the bank for privatization," Sense Bank wrote in a public statement on Aug. 25.
The suspects in the investigation are accused of laundering Hr 150 million ($3.4 million) and transferring the funds through Sense Bank to post bail for former Justice and Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
The highest-ranking suspect is President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former deputy chief of staff, Iryna Mudra.
Following the scandal, the Finance Ministry, the bank’s shareholder, said it would accelerate the sale of Sense Bank, which was nationalized in 2023 from Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman.
But the supervisory board currently lacks the required number of members to function after some state representatives’ terms expired last month. Without a functioning supervisory board, senior employees at the bank cannot be dismissed, even if they are suspects in the scheme.
The bank needs at least nine supervisory board members to function: six independent members and three state representatives. Currently, it lists only four members on its website, including Deputy Chairman Piotr Novak — not to be confused with Peter Novak. The latter Novak is not yet listed.
On Aug. 20, National Bank Governor Andrii Pyshnyi urged the state to appoint new representatives to the board as quickly as possible.
Investigators say Mudra was tasked with bringing the bank under the control of the President’s Office and raising money for Halushchenko’s bail after he was arrested for his role in a major kickback scheme at state-owned nuclear company, Energoatom. She has denied any wrongdoing.
On Aug. 24, the High Anti-Corruption Court placed Mudra in custody for two months and set bail at Hr 20 million ($448,000).
Sense Bank said on Aug. 25 that it had suspended the director of the financial monitoring department, Lyudmila Snihur, from her duties, according to a statement published online.
