Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced Thursday, Aug. 20, that the Ministry of Finance has been ordered to accelerate the sale of Sense Bank, with the sale revenue pledged to Ukraine’s Defense Forces.
The process must be carried out through a transparent, competitive, and effective process, Koretskyi said in a statement. Simultaneously, he ordered the ministry and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to resolve accumulated issues and improve the bank’s corporate governance.
“Proceeds from the bank’s sale will be used to fund the needs of Ukraine’s Defense Forces,” Koretskyi said.
Formerly known as Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Sense Bank is one of the country’s largest systemically important lenders and has operated under state ownership since July 2023, when the government nationalized the bank following sanctions on its former Russian owners – Mikhail Fridman, Andrey Kosogov, and Petr Aven.
Sense Bank leaders removed amid new anti-corruption probe
On Wednesday, the government removed Mykhola Hladyshenko as chairman of the Sense Bank’s supervisory board and initiated the removal of management board chairman Oleh Stupak.
The moves came after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) announced a new probe dubbed “Forrest Gump,” earlier that day.
Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced the decision in a Telegram statement, following Sense Bank’s earlier confirmation that law enforcement officials conducted investigative actions at its head office.
Investigators claim that HR. 150 million (roughly $3.3 million) was laundered through Sense Bank to post bail for former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko in the previous “Midas” corruption operation.
Individuals suspected of being involved in the scheme – who were served with notices of suspicion under Article 209.3 of the Criminal Code by the anti-graft agencies – include Hladyshenko and Stupak, as well as former deputy head of the Presidential Office Iryna Mudra, former lawmaker Maksym Mykytas, and Vadym Stolar, who belonged to the barred, pro-Russian “Opposition – For Life” party.
“The facts disclosed by anti-corruption bodies require proper evaluation and cannot go unanswered,” Koretskyi said, adding that “trust is a fundamental condition for the operation of a state financial institution.”
NBU Governor Andriy Pyshny told Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday that NBU will interview Stupak on Aug. 26 as part of an administrative proceeding into his professional fitness, and has opened a review of the collective suitability of the bank’s entire supervisory board.
During enhanced supervision of the bank, NBU found signs of a hidden management structure that may have been in place even before Sense Bank’s nationalization, put together by representatives of its former sanctioned shareholders, Pyshny said.
The NBU fined Sense Bank twice over financial monitoring violations between 2023 and 2025, the initial fine was Hr. 47.7 million ($1.1 million), while the second amounted to Hr. 4.1 million ($95,300).
Mudra ousted hours after probe was announced
Just hours after the probe’s announcement, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree, ousting Mudra from her post as the deputy head of the Presidential Office.
Before becoming the deputy justice minister in May 2022, Mudra was a lawyer who worked for multiple banks.
She was later promoted to the post of deputy head of the Presidential Office in March 2024 and took part in ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).