Case against the ex-head of NBU has signs of political persecution, – Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

In the NABU case against the ex-head of the NBU Kyrylo Shevchenko, there are signs of political persecution caused by his refusal to comply with political demands regarding the NBU's regulatory activities, in particular, an increase in the amount of hryvnia emission to finance the state budget.

This was stated by specialists of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, who analyzed the decision of the Appeal Chamber of the HACCU on the choice of a preventive measure for Kyrylo Shevchenko, who confirmed the decision of the first instance court – detention.

The human rights defenders came to this conclusion after researching Kyrylo Shevchenko's career. They reminded that the criminal proceedings regarding Shevchenko's activities as the Head of Ukrgasbank were registered in the URCSD (Unified State Register of Court Decisions) in February 2019. Therefore, at the time of his appointment as the Head of the National Bank, both the president and the parliament were aware of the ongoing investigation against the candidate, which did not prevent the president from proposing Shevchenko's candidacy and the Verkhovna Rada from voting for his appointment.

According to human rights defenders, who cite publications in reputable media, two years and three months later, during the escalation of the conflict between Shevchenko and the Office of the President of Ukraine, "the president used this case to put the final pressure and offer Shevchenko to resign before serving him with a suspicion."

The Kharkiv Union emphasizes that Kyrylo Shevchenko is one of the most professional and successful bankers in Ukraine. While working at Ukrgasbank, he managed to bring this state-owned bank, which was not among the top ten, to a leading position in the financial and banking market of Ukraine. As the Head of the NBU, Shevchenko also demonstrated professionalism, consistency, and decision-making skills during the crisis periods of the coronavirus pandemic and martial law.

"During his nearly two and a half years as the Head of the NBU, Kyrylo Shevchenko is remembered by Ukrainians as a consistent supporter of a prudent monetary policy, who increased foreign exchange reserves, successfully fought for the cost effectiveness and profitability of banks, maintained the banking system and monetary policy during the crisis, and brought order to the non-banking financial services sector. But the biggest challenge for Kyrylo Shevchenko was the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, when the NBU managed to keep the banking and currency systems alive thanks to well-thought-out tactics. Within seven months of the war, the NBU managed to prevent a large-scale depreciation of the hryvnia, kept international reserves at more than $25 billion and kept inflation lower than in some countries of the Eastern European region," – the human rights defenders reported.

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group recalls that Shevchenko's successor was Andriy Pyshnyi, who is considered a person close to the Head of the Presidential Administration. And some of his decisions, such as allowing banks to form up to 50% of their required reserves in government bonds rather than in real money, could lead to a drop in interest on business deposits and negative returns on foreign currency deposits.

"Considering the foregoing, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group sees signs of political persecution in the case of Kyrylo Shevchenko and will monitor the current developments. We do hope that the state in general and law enforcement agencies in particular will have enough professionalism to avoid political persecution in Ukraine," the KHRPG summarized.

From the very beginning of the trial, Kyrylo Shevchenko has been claiming that the case against him is politically motivated and the investigation is biased. He noted that the HACCU had rejected about 40 motions filed by his defense, including on strictly procedural issues. In addition to this, the court does not allow Shevchenko to appear in court via video conference. The former head of the NBU considers the case against him to be "artificially created and the one that will fall apart in any European court."

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