State bank “laundromat” and “dirty” million-dollar schemes: Andrey Pyshnyi and spouses Anton and Inna Tyutyun have controlled Oschadbank’s financial flows for decades

13 июня 2020 г., 12:08

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State bank “laundromat” and “dirty” million-dollar schemes: Andrey Pyshnyi and spouses Anton and Inna Tyutyun have controlled Oschadbank’s financial flows for decades

Anton Tyutyun’s wife has been named a suspect in a probe concerning the embezzlement of public money from Ukrgazbank.

The state-owned Oschadbank has been extremely unlucky with its management so far. It seems that the state’s latest attempt to bring order there is no exception - the announced competition for the vacancy of the chairman of the bank’s board has once again demonstrated the old staff’s reluctance to leave their privileged positions.

The competition, by the way, was reluctantly announced after the current long-standing chairman of the board, Andrey Pyshnyi, "self-reappointed" himself in 2019 to lead Oschadbank for another 5 years through a hand-picked Supervisory Board. This was in direct violation of the law, which requires all managerial positions in state banks to be filled through open competitions. Such audacity outraged not only Ukraine’s international donors, prompting the intervention of the National Bank. There was a scandal and court cases, but the procedure was finally initiated on March 5th of this year. The search for candidates was conducted by the company Pedersen&Partners.

Candidates were diligently sought in every corner, and by April 16th, the shortlist of candidates was known, with the current head of the bank, Andrey Pyshnyi, leading it. Another major international scandal erupted, and Pyshnyi was evidently made aware of the prospects of his persistence, leading Oschadbank to announce a new competitive selection for the position of chairman of the board on May 8th. The official reason for the new competition was "due to external unforeseen circumstances."

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Finance eventually determined five finalists for the position of chairman of the board of Oschadbank. In the latest version of the shortlist, the current chairman was no longer included.

"Yes, I confirm that after the cancellation of the previous selection, I decided not to participate anymore and did not submit documents for the newly announced competition. It’s time to move forward," commented Andrey Pyshnyi at the time.

And indeed, he "moved": instead of himself, he delegated his trusted person, Anton Tyutyun, to compete for the position of head of the state bank. Without a doubt, he embodies fresh managerial potential, having held the position of deputy chairman of the board of Oschadbank since 2010, appointed under the quota of the Klyuyev brothers.

Since then, the fugitive brothers owed Oschadbank billions of hryvnias, but Tyutyun, barely afloat, clung to the "revolutionary" Pyshnyi, who, using his closeness to the then all-powerful Yatsenyuk and Avakov, saved him from lustration purges.

This was likely not done for free; by that time, the media had repeatedly reported how Anton Tyutyun had turned the Retail Business Department and the Electronic Commerce and Payment Systems Department of Oschadbank into a covert "laundry" for black cash under his control.

Additionally, the banker continued to "cover" agents for the settlements of the Interbank Nonbanking Payment System, regularly receiving a monthly "figure" from them, and managed his personal corrupt formation, which Anton proudly called the "Ukrainian Union of Payment Market Participants."

However, it turned out that banker Tyutyun was dealing with minor issues. His wife, Inna Tyutyun, now holds a modest position as deputy head of the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies, but previously she was engaged in much larger-scale activities. She has now had to retreat into the shadows following a series of criminal cases initiated against her by law enforcement.

Prior to this, Inna worked for over 20 years in the banking sector, including as deputy chairman of the board of Ukrgazbank and in a leadership position in the IT and Payment Systems Department of the National Bank. In all these roles, she left a notable corrupt trail.

Indeed, in full compliance with the declared goals of her fintech association - to promote the development of the domestic financial technology market, she supervised the modernization of the infamous National System of Mass Electronic Payments at the National Bank, implemented under the Strategic Program for the Development of Cashless Retail Payments in Ukraine for 2012-2014.

As is known, the program did not develop and remained in its early stages, but Inna Tyutyun spent a hefty sum of about 42 million dollars on its "development." Her then-boss, Sergey Arbuzov, took part of these funds with him when he fled, but the General Prosecutor’s Office became particularly interested in the expenditures handled by Inna Tyutyun.

However, at that time, Anton Tyutyun asked Andrey Pyshnyi to protect his wife from "repression," and soon the cases were quietly closed, and their key figure moved on to work as deputy chairman in the state-run Ukrgazbank, where she immediately resumed her usual activities - embezzling state funds on a large scale. This time, it was under the guise of creating a new processing facility for the financial institution.

Processing in Ukrgazbank (unlike the National System for the country) did appear. However, the price the bank paid its developers ("LIME SYSTEM") from 2015 to 2018 was so inflated that the National Police, together with the capital’s prosecutor’s office, initiated a criminal case under Article 191, Part 5.

And now, according to the case’s narrative, officials of Ukrgazbank (read Inna Tyutyun) are suspected of abusing their position and, in collusion with commercial structures, "appropriating, embezzling or seizing property" amounting to over 230 million hryvnias.

It would seem that the Tyutyun family’s money is no big deal, and there is no need to worry. However, the problem is that with the loss of control over Oschadbank, it will be much harder or more expensive to avoid responsibility.

Moreover, the new management will likely reveal all the machinations of the Pyshnyi-Tyutyun tandem within Oschadbank itself. During the ruthless reforms of 2015-2020, quite a collection of articles for the Criminal Code has accumulated. Therefore, they decided to stay there as long as possible. Perhaps they can also negotiate with the new authorities.