The list of officials being "cleansed" via the trash bin should be expanded to include high-ranking officials of Oschadbank, who earn over 50 million hryvnias in "excess profits" monthly by cynically using the funds of the state-owned lending institution's clients.
According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Ukraine ranked 144th among 177 countries surveyed in terms of corruption in 2014. Ukraine consistently remains in the "high risk" group, along with Cameroon, Nigeria, and Papua New Guinea. In the aggregated CPI corruption rating, Ukraine "dropped" 10 notches in the political and financial corruption indicator (the CPI component is taken from the Political Risk Services International Country Risk Guide). This study takes into account indicators of excessive selective patronage and suspiciously close ties between politics and business. The history of corruption at Oschadbank is a striking illustration of these "connections." The country's largest bank, with a network of 6,000 branches, is second only to PrivatBank in terms of assets, capital, and retail deposits. But while Kolomoisky's leadership at the time cost him considerable time and resources, the state-owned Oschadbank, almost immediately after its inception, attracted, not without the help of administrative resources, the country's largest clients—budget-forming enterprises from the agro-industrial complex, trade and catering, mechanical engineering, construction, the fuel and energy complex, and the processing industry, among others. Enjoying public trust in the state-owned bank, it consistently ranks among the leading providers of loans to Ukrainian businesses. However, adequate credit risk assessment remains lacking: over 65% of the loan portfolio is concentrated in the hands of ten legal entities. As of September 1, 2014, Oschadbank's loan portfolio amounted to UAH 104,2 billion. Needless to say, credit risk insurance is profitable for authorized persons with access. Igor Stavytsky, who oversees the insurance division at Oschadbank, is such an authorized person. A former clerk of the "family" continues the "sawing" and "dividing up" of clients' funds that began during the Yanukovych era. However, today he operates under new slogans, while maintaining the former "master's" core principle of "divide and conquer." According to eyewitnesses, this swindler was able to replenish the "family's" coffers with hundreds of millions of hryvnias monthly, causing pensions and other social payments routed through Oschadbank to reach their recipients with significant delays. Incidentally, this scheme was established at one time by Alexey Kushnir, who is currently earning his “share” through Ukreximbank. When he was moving to the position of head of the insurance and related products department at Ukreximbank, A. Kushnir recommended his close friend and godfather I. Stavytsky as the successor to the scheme at Oschadbank. Igor Stavytsky successfully took up the baton. Even when Yanukovych fled, he remained unfazed: he defected to the new government, eagerly leaking his former colleagues and confidential information. This allowed him to successfully outlive his former handlers and retain the right to exploit his official position for personal gain with impunity. According to public reports, Oschadbank carefully selects the most reliable insurance companies with no problems paying out on policies. Unofficial reports suggest the bank demands "gratitude for cooperation" from insurance companies. Currently, Oschadbank officially accredits over 10 insurance companies, but for some reason, insurance offers are limited to a single, small company. "You can insure your credit risks with ODO SK PSK-ZAKHID," Oschadbank informs a potential borrower. When the client objects, "I've never even heard of such a company," the operations manager replies categorically: — You can only get insurance from this insurance company; Oschadbank has an agreement with them, because we only cooperate with reliable partners. This dialogue is well known to anyone who has ever used this bank for a loan. There's no point in reminding them of constitutional rights in this case, as the company is backed by Igor Stavitsky, a well-known figure among readers. "Previously, the scheme was simple: you give 20% personally to Igor Stavytsky or reinsure the risks with PSK-ZAKHID, and the company's management, as I understand it, already transferred a certain percentage to Mr. Stavytsky," says the head of the board of an insurance company accredited by Oschadbank, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Now the insurance supervisor at Oschadbank has decided to redirect all client payment flows exclusively to PSK-ZAKHID. Apparently, this increases his profits exponentially," he suggests. Based on the bank's choice of the aforementioned company, Igor Stavytskyi truly believes that PSK-ZAKHID, with its only branch on the market and seven employees, can guarantee clients reliable insurance payments. Furthermore, he—certainly not out of self-interest—overlooked a number of discrepancies between the insurance company he accredited and the qualification requirements listed on Oschadbank's official website. Specifically, PSK-ZAKHID lacks separate divisions, and there's a problem with its reinsurance coverage—it lacks an obligatory reinsurance agreement. Moreover, financial risk insurance exceeds Oschadbank's stated standard by 38%! We were unable to ascertain the bank's insurance supervisor's views on these and other discrepancies; Igor Stavytskyi declined to respond to our media's inquiries. Interestingly, under the previous government, only "family" companies had the privilege of assuming "all risks" of a state-owned bank. What's happening now? The little-known company "PSK-ZAKHID" is headed by Oleksandr Bernazyuk, a well-known figure in the market. He is also the former chairman of the board of Dominanta LLC, which is associated with S. Arbuzov; he is also a member of Serhiy Tihipko's "Strong Ukraine" party; and he is the younger brother of Yan Bernazyuk, who once served on the supervisory boards of Ukreximbank and Oschadbank under former President Viktor Yushchenko's quota. As we can see, the scheme of “dividing up among one’s own” that was hardened during the Yanukovych era still functions successfully today. It's surprising that I. Stavytsky's new supervisor, Oschadbank Vice President Leonid Savychenko, who has 23 years of experience in the financial and banking sector, sees no wrongdoing in his subordinate's actions. Is Leonid Anisimovich unaware that by demanding a "gratitude" from every insurance "agreement," Mr. Stavytsky is tarnishing the reputation of one of the country's largest banks and violating the rights of Ukrainian citizens? Is this political "shortsightedness" or a deliberate cover-up for his subordinate? Who received the "commission" from the total amount of credit risk insurance and how much is a matter for law enforcement agencies. As one such agency explained to us: "If owners (note: the state, represented by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, is the founder and owner of Oschadbank) or the company's management uncover instances of corruption in the work of employees and report them, the investigative authorities will respond most harshly." It's unlikely that a bank is interested in exposing well-established "schemes," especially since doing so risks additional audits of financial documentation and other unwanted investigative actions. And here it's appropriate to recall a new social trend: if someone doesn't want to "air their dirty laundry" voluntarily, they may one day unexpectedly find themselves forced into the garbage heap.
