Yevhen Mahda: Across the ocean, they see how their brainchild is gradually turning into a tool of the ruling team to persecute inconvenient characters

In Ukraine, at the turn of September and October, the letter from the American authorities to the Ukrainian ones, which "accidentally" became public, was actively discussed. Among the important requirements set forth in the document are strengthening the independence and effectiveness of anti-corruption structures. Across the ocean, it seems that they see how their brainchild, constructed several years ago, is gradually turning into a tool of the ruling team to persecute inconvenient characters in the Ukrainian political process.

Confirmation of this assumption can be found in the statement of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group (KHPG), one of the oldest independent Ukrainian human rights organizations, which drew attention to the criminal proceedings against the former chairman of the board of the National Bank of Ukraine, Kyrylo Shevchenko. It will soon be a year since he resigned from the post he held for 27 months. Since Shevchenko's appointment, Ukraine's financial and credit policy has been stable, but the main thing is different: Ukraine's banking system has withstood Russia's large-scale invasion, has not collapsed, and the hryvnia exchange rate has remained stable and predictable.

However, during the resignation procedure, they literally began to "catch up" with Shevchenko, using the criminal proceedings initiated during his tenure as chairman of the board of Ukrgasbank as a tool of persecution. The KHPG notes that it looks like a political persecution, in which the anti-corruption authorities have recently begun to actively separate different suspects in this case, offering a deal with the investigation to some of them, apparently in exchange for testifying against Shevchenko. One of the human rights activists' working versions of the rapid increase in the level of arbitrariness in the actions of anti-corruption bodies is the lack of "constructive interaction" between Kyrylo Shevchenko and Andrii Yermak during his tenure as Head of the National Bank. This is probably the reason for the hunt for the banker arranged by the anti-corruption authorities.

Kyrylo Shevchenko is known to be abroad, but the scenario for his prosecution is obvious: turning him into the main culprit of the problems in the Ukrainian financial system, a show trial. Apparently, this is why he has recently been charged with a "thief-in-law" article about crimes committed by a "criminal community." It is interesting, though: a banker with a long professional background is seen by the investigation as a "thief-in-law." This has yet to be proven, but such accusations destroy reputations to the ground.

Ukraine has had former presidents and prime ministers under investigation since independence, so law enforcements' claims against the former head of the National Bank are unlikely to surprise anyone. But in the eyes of our Western partners, we look strange, to put it mildly, when NABU and SAPO, with the active assistance of the HACC, are trying to squeeze a man whose actions practically saved the hryvnia from a collapse in the first and second quarters of 2022.

Source: GORDON